Christmas customs
by Ad Astra Per Alia Porci
Summary: NSR. COMPLETE. How Christmas rituals help the two finally step over the boundaries of friendship. please R
1. Making the plans

Nick glanced down at his watch as he strolled out of the locker room and down the hall. '_Forty minutes until shift_' he thought with a self-satisfied smile, '_For once not only will I be early, but I'll be the first one here_.' As he rounded the corner and looked into the break room his smile faded into a resigned smirk. '_I should have guessed…_' he sighed internally taking in the sight of Sara Sidle already sprawled out on the couch and reading a Forensics Magazine.

"Damn Sidle, don't you ever go home?" he teased as he walked past her towards the coffee maker. Luckily, Sara already had some made so Nick just poured himself a cup and sauntered towards her carefully balancing the generously filled cup in his hands.

"Not if I can avoid it," she replied peering at him over the top of her magazine, a faint smile playing at her lips. Nick had made his way to the couch and was switching his coffee to his other hand to hold it while he manoeuvred around Sarah. His picked her legs off the would-be vacant cushion beside her, sat himself down, and placed them in his lap so she maintained her relaxed position.

"Only you would pick work over play," she grinned as he sipped his drink.

"Well there's more action here," she replied simply. She regretted it when she saw the smug look dance on to Nick's face and he set his coffee on the floor beside him.

"So… what you're saying is…" he shifted so that he was angled towards her better, "that you don't get enough action… at home… not enough 'play tim--"

"Nick." Sara's voice contained a warning as her face began to flame.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, it's good that you told me," he grinned delightedly at her furious blush, "You want action? I'll get you action." At this Sara raised an inquisitive eyebrow and shot him an amused look. Nick thought about his wording. "That came out wrong..." he picked up his coffee from the floor, "What I mean is, I'm going to a new club tonight and you are very welcome to join me. What do ya say?" He took a sip of his coffee and looked at her expectantly. Sara lowered her magazine to glance at him.

"I'm gonna say…" Sara smiled as she toyed with the thought of going out with Nick. She pictured herself and Nick all dressed up, hanging out and dancing all night. '_Of course, that's not how it's actually going to happen; he might stay with me at first. But he'll be trying to set me up with some other loser, while he finds himself someone else…_' her mind played out a scene of her partner hooking up with a typical blond bimbo, grinding and making out while Sara watched sadly from the sidelines with a tall geeky man hovering around her. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought. "No. Sorry Nick, clubs aren't really my thing… thanks though." She brushed off the idea and picked up her magazine and tried to resume her article to dislodge the unwanted thoughts from her head.

"Oh." Nick's face clearly showed his disappointment; he was hurt her reaction to his innocent suggestion. He meant to let it slide like it was nothing but his mind wouldn't let him, "I know we've been hanging out a lot lately… do you think its too much? Are you getting sick of me?"

"Huh? No. I love hanging out with you. I told you I just don't like clubs." Sara abandoned her place in "Forensic Files" and watched his reaction. He wore a doubtful expression.

"Sara. You actually shuttered at the thought," He said matter-of-factly.

"Yea, I did… at the thought of going to a club. Did you not see the smile on my face when you first suggested going? That was the reaction to hanging out with you," she pulled her feet off of his lap to find a regular sitting position and scooted towards him. Once she was close enough, she wrapped her arms around his closest arm and hugged it. Nick looked down at her form snuggled against him and chuckled. He pulled his arm out of her grasp and put it around her so that she moved closer and wrapped her arms around his torso instead. "Do you have any plans after shift?" Sara asked into the chest that her head rested on.

"Yeah, I was going to go Christmas shopping at the mall. Care to join me?" he squeezed her shoulders as he asked.

"I would love to."

"Good." Neither moved from their position; it was very comfortable. So they sat like that, Nick sipping his coffee and Sara listening to Nick's heartbeat, in relative silence. They spoke occasionally, but for the most part they remained in a relaxed silence simply enjoying each other's company.

Sara loved moments like these. It was no secret that she didn't have much of a life outside of work and rarely had dates, so whether or not she liked to admit it, Sara needed the physical comfort sometimes. So whenever she was with Nick and he offered the affection she tried to maintain the position as long as possible, and for his part Nick never objected. Partly because he knew she needed it, but also because he loved holding her as much as she loved being held.

Unlike Sara, Nick had been in these positions many, many times, albeit not so much lately, but still more than enough. His good looks and wild youth always seemed to place a new lovely body beside him in a similar position by the end of the night. However he was never able to enjoy it. He was never comfortable with those other women. When they would push up against him, all that he could think about was how long he had to hold them before he could leave without being disrespectful. With Sara, he was either wondering how long he could keep her in that position or he wasn't thinking at all - just feeling content. So throughout their four year friendship, they had been in this intimate position a number of times.

"Aww. Well, isn't this cozy?" Warrick chuckled as he walked through the doors into the room. Sara jumped slightly; her eyes had drifted shut at some point and Warrick's entrance had caught her off-guard. Nick chuckled at her reaction.

"Good evening War," Nick greeted politely. Sara glanced at the clock on the wall and slowly moved away from Nick into a sitting position, both instantly missing the warmth of the other's body. She wasn't embarrassed at having been caught cuddling, after all everyone knew that they were just friends, but she was surprised to see that they had sat like that for half an hour. Shift was going to start in 10 minutes and she was feeling sleepy. So she got up off the couch and walked towards Warrick, rubbing her eyes and smoothing her rumpled shirt.

"Want another Nicky?" Sara asked as Warrick poured Sara a cup.

"Please." Nick too abandoned the couch and strolled over, tossing his used cup and accepting a newly filled one from Sara. Coffees in hand, the three made their way over to the table to wait for the rest of the crew to appear.

"So what'd you do today War?" Sara inquired.

"Had a lunch-date with the girl I was telling you about the other night… the one who works at Old Navy." Warrick smiled as he thought of his latest squeeze.

"You have to stop referring to them as 'girls'. We're old enough now that they're either 'women' or 'ladies'." Sara feigned annoyance.

"Well which one is better?" Warrick asked.

"Go with 'ladies', man. It's the best blanket word; some females get upset at the other two. 'Women' apparently implies the elderly and well you heard Sara's offence to 'girls'." Nick supplied helpfully.

"Girls are so sensitive--," Warrick laughed catching a glare from Sara, "Err, _ladies_ are so sensitive. I'll never understand." He corrected his mistake.

It wasn't long before Catherine evened out the table. She threw in some advice about substituting the word 'miss' for the word 'ma am' when talking with a woman under the age of seventy. Catherine was in the middle of explaining to the guys why the term 'ma am' was distasteful when Grissom strolled in with Greg close in tow. The team was divided between three cases and were quickly off to work, their enlightening conversation forgotten.


	2. End of shift

The end of shift found four out of the six members of nightshift doing paperwork. Sara and Catherine had finished their case fairly quickly. They had been assigned a basic robbery; they had gathered enough evidence and captured the criminal, even received a confession, half-way through shift. Since no other calls had come in the pair had spent the last several hours going through files in the break room; Sara was prepping for a court date in January and Catherine was finishing paperwork that had backlogged on Grissom's desk.

The other two were in one of the many evidence rooms. Nick and Warrick had arrived back at the lab, case closed, about fifteen minutes before shift ended. They had been investigating the murder of a prominent business man; turned out that the wife had killed him because he was having an affair. Since it was a crime of passion there was more than ample evidence to convict the wife: bloody fingerprints, her blood-stained clothes, the murder weapon, and the list goes on. They would have been able to wrap this case up as quickly as the women had finished up their case; it was tracking down the wife that took the bulk of shift. But now, with the wife in Brass's custody, all they had to do was tie all the loose ends in their paperwork. The two remaining members of the crew, Greg and Grissom, seemed to be heading into a double.

Sara and Catherine were ready to leave as soon as the clock struck quitting time. Catherine headed to the locker room while Sara left to find Nick. It didn't take long to locate him sitting with Warrick in an evidence room down the hall. The door was opened but Sara still knocked on it to draw their attention.

"Hey," she greeted both men.

"What's up?" Warrick looked at her expectantly.

"Shifts over," she vaguely gestured to the clock on the wall and walked over to Nick, "Just wanted to see if you were ready to go."

"Not quite, I'll need another fifteen minutes. Do you mind?" Nick asked politely.

"Not at all-- this actually works out nicely. I'm going to head home, change and grab some more money. When you're done here, maybe you could come pick me up and we can go." The last part was more of a statement than a question. She clearly thought that this was the best arrangement.

"Perfect," he replied and flashed a toothy grin.

"Okay, see you in a bit," she turned and headed out the door. "Later Warrick," she offered casually as she passed by Warrick and out into the hall.

"Later girl," he called to her retreating form. He then turned his attention to Nick, "Do you two have a date?" Warrick asked, complete with a raised eyebrow and inquisitive head-tilt. Nick chuckled in response.

"No, man, how often do I have to tell you that Sara and I are just friends?"

"Until it becomes the truth," Warrick smirked at his friend. Nick just shook his head, and turned back to his work. Nick never understood why every time he and Sara went out, everyone thought it was a date; everyone knows that there's nothing happening between them. '_Everyone knows that Sara isn't interested in me because she's hung up on Grissom,'_ Nick was surprised about how bitter his voice sounded in his head. He justified it by telling himself that he only felt that way because Sara was his best friend and he was just angry that Grissom had treated her so badly. He quickly brushed aside that thought and resumed his previous one, _'And everyone knows that I'm not interested in her because… because… why am I not interested in her?' _Nick frowned outwardly.

"You see it now don't you?" Warrick smirked. He had been watching the emotions flicker across his partner's confused face and understood what thoughts were swirling through his head.

"I-- I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sara."

"Just drop it, Warr. There's nothing there," there was an edge to Nick's voice.

"Alright, I'm done," Warrick held up his hands in mock surrender and the two men finished up their paperwork in silence.


	3. Games and Rules

Sara was only half dressed by the time that Nick knocked on her door. Upon arriving at home Sara had decided to grab a quick shower. However, the warm water felt so soothing against her skin that she remained there for longer than she had intended. She had been standing in front of her closet, in only her undergarments and a towel around her wet hair, trying to decide what to wear when Nick ceremoniously announced his arrival. She quickly picked up her robe off the floor, where she had discarded it mere minutes before, and used it to cover her scantily clad body. As she jogged towards the door she removed the towel from her head and rubbed her hair vigorously to get rid of some excess water. When she reached the door she draped the towel around her neck, opened the door wide, and quickly invited him inside muttering "Two minutes." Then Sara hurried back into her room to make herself more suitable for a public appearance.

Meanwhile, Nick kicked off his shoes and made himself at home in her living room. He sunk into the couch and began the traditional remote hunt. He had spent many hours over the last few years of their friendship playing this game, yet it still amused him. It was fun for the curious CSI to try and solve the case of the missing remote. The best part was when he finally found the coveted item. The places that that remote would turn up astounded him; some of the more memorable places were in the refrigerator, in the shoes by the front door, in the mailbox… she had even once wrapped the remote up with his birthday present by mistake. Sara had never been graced with the virtue of patience and as a result didn't make a good couch potato. Instead, she would flip on the television and get up to do something productive while only paying semi-attention to the show. It was her aimless wandering and her odd choice of distraction tasks which made the location of the missing remote so interesting and unexpected. It was fun trying to figure out what she had been doing the last time she was bored. It brought a smile to his face every time he came over to watch TV. Actually, lately whenever he saw any kind of remote he would smile because it reminded him of Sara.

When Sara walked back into her living room a few minutes later, casually dressed with her wet hair pulled back, she found Nick over in the corner of the room snooping around a desk. She watched him silently for a few moments; she could help but smile as he moved around a few picture frames with family photos in them and then turned his attention to her plants in a fruitless search. She cleared her throat to get his attention. When he looked up at her she raised an eyebrow. "Looking for the remote," he grinned and returned to digging around in some potting soil. She laughed. He glanced back up at her and watched as she bent down and moved a sofa cushion off the couch to produce the remote. _'Always someplace unexpected,'_ Nick thought as he grinned sheepishly at her.

"And you call yourself a CSI," she chuckled and tossed the remote on the table.

"But I'm not on the clock right now," he brushed some dirt off his hands and back into the pot and strolled towards her, "Just remember Sara, we're not going to work… we're going to _play_." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively and nudged her with his elbow as he finished his thought. She laughed at him and linked her arm with his cocked elbow.

"Well, let's get going then," she led him to the door and locked it behind them. They climbed into Nick's Tahoe and started their journey to the closest mall. On the way they stopped at donut shop for a breakfast-to-go. It wasn't anywhere near enough to fill Nick's hollow leg, but he figured he only really needed something to sustain him for their shopping spree, not to fill him up. They didn't talk the rest of the way to the mall because Nick insisted on blasting Christmas songs and singing along with them very loudly and very off key; 'To put us in the proper mood' he had explained before turning up the volume. Sara simply smiled and sang along with him, occasionally pausing to giggle when Nick couldn't remember the words and tried to adlib.

The mall was surprising tame for the proximity to Christmas. Although they reasoned that it was probably because school wasn't going to let out for another two days and most adults were just starting work right now, the relative scarcity of shoppers was still startling. Neither Nick nor Sara had any preset gifts in mind, so their 'game plan' was to wander the mall aimlessly and stop whenever something caught their eye. Nick only had one rule: they could not visit the same store more than once. He was a big fan of the impulse buy and said that his rule of thumb was that if something wasn't good enough to buy the first time that they saw it, then it wouldn't good enough the second time 'round. Sara readily agreed to his rule as long as he promised to wait patiently while she went shoe shopping – she needed a new pair for the upcoming Christmas party. Agreements in place, the two began what Nick later dubbed the 'longest shopping spree known to man'.


	4. Ice Cream Break

Seven hundred dollars, fifteen stores, four trips to the car, and three hours later the pair found their way to the food court, Nick having spent most of the money and Sara having spent most of the time. They decided that they were done shopping for the day. "Thank God!" Nick cried as he collapsed into the nearest seat in the food court, dropping the six bags of presents from his hands to cover the table top. Once the bags were no longer in his possession went limp in his chair, groaning slightly in the process.

Sara shoved the bags further down the table and sat down across from him. She didn't have any because she had finished her Christmas list almost an hour ago and had deposited the rest of her bags during the last trip to the car. She had offered numerously to help carry some bags but Nick, ever-the-gentleman, wouldn't hear of it. "Oh, you big suck. It wasn't that bad," She laughed at his slumped form.

"Speak for yourself!" He lifted his head and eyed Sara warily, "That's gotta be a world record! I've been here so long I'm not sure I'll be able to handle the outside world anymore, I've forgotten what it's like…. I'll need to be rehabilitated before I can re-enter society." He let his head fall back again and shut his eyes.

"I know what'll make you feel better," Sara said getting up out of her seat, "I'll be right back." Nick grunted in response. Sara weaved her way through the maze of tables scattered around the food court. She walked up to the first ice cream parlour she spotted and ordered liberal amounts of two flavours. She paid the fee and filled each hand with a different flavour and made her way back towards her and Nick's table. Once she reached the table she set both types in the middle of the table and reached over and rubbed Nick's chest soothingly. He peeked at her through one eye and smiled at the gesture but didn't move hoping that she would continue. "Com'on; sit up. Look at what I got for you," she instructed as she retracted her hand and reclaimed the seat across from him.

With great effort, Nick pulled himself back into a sitting position and studied the ice creams laid before him. "I know that one is Candy Cane," he pointed to the cup of vanilla ice cream with pieces of the candy crushed up inside of it, "but what's this flavour?" he asked while pulling the unknown light yellow dessert towards him.

"Well I got Christmas flavours, 'to put us in the proper mood'..." She quoted Nick's explanation for the car's music. "That would be Egg-Nog," she replied obviously pleased with herself.

"Wow. That's possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," Nick laughed.

"But you love Egg-Nog! You have it every Christmas..." Sara replied puzzled.

"I do! I absolutely adore Egg-Nog! It's quite possibly the best tasting concoction in the entire world. However, Egg-Nog in ice cream form? I dunno-- seems highly suspicious..." he was still studying the contents of the Styrofoam cup when Sara's hand snatched it away and pushed the Candy Cane ice cream forward in it's place.

"Suit yourself," she replied as she stuck a spoonful in her mouth. "Mmmm."

"Is it good?" Nick peered at her curiously as he began his own flavour.

"Guess you'll never know." Sara continued eating her snack slowly, while Nick ploughed though his Candy Cane ice cream. When he had reached the bottom of his container he glanced over at Sara, who was only half done and still emitting delighted sounds between bites. Nick watched her silently for a minute.

"Can I try some?" he ventured in a small voice, leaning forward on the table.

"Nope," Sara exclaimed happily as she tasted another spoonful.

"Please?" Sara shook her head firmly. Nick reached across the table and pushed her hands, which held the ice cream container in one and the spoon in the other, down on the table away from her face. He kept his hands wrapped gently around her wrists and softly caressed the back of her hands with his thumbs. He drooped his head lower to the table and made whimpering sounds. First Sara watched their hands together, intrigued by how soft and gentle his great hands could be. Then she slowly raised her eyes to his face. His bottom lip was jutted out in a mock pout, his eyebrows were in high arcs on his forehead and his eyes were big and round. _'I hate it when he makes that face; I can't say no to him and he knows it.'_ Sara sighed, _'Hold out a little longer.'_ She tried to stare back at him sternly but failed miserably breaking into a big grin.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Nick's pout dissolved.

"It's a maybe. What have you done to deserve it?"

"What have I done? I spent** an hour** in a shoe shop with you, looking at every single reddish strappy shoe available -- trying each of them on at least four -- and I didn't complain. Not even when we left the store without buying a pair!" Nick made his case.

"Okay, Mr. Hyperbole. First of all, we were only there for forty-five minutes. Second, I only re-tried two pairs of shoes. And finally, the only reasons that you didn't complain were because it was one of the preset rules and you were thankful for the break." Sara counted her rebuttals on her fingers.

"Please. I'll buy you a gingerbread house," his eyes had been wandering around the food court and had come to a rest on a display of a pre-made gingerbread house that was the prize for a raffle.

"Deal." Nick extended his hand and Sara briefly shook it and then handed him the rest of her Egg-Nog ice cream. "I don't really want to stay here any longer. Toss me your wallet and I'll go grab gingerbread stuff from the "Bulk Barn" while you finish that off."

"Here," Nick mumbled past a glob of the ice cream. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet and held it over Sara's expectant hand. He swallowed the contents in his mouth and warned, "Do not go crazy, Sidle. I'm trusting you…" and handed her the wallet. She grinned devilishly.

"Would I do that? Go crazy with someone else's money?" She asked innocently.

"You're a woman with a man's cash and credit cards… just go easy on me. Only get the bare necessities." He smirked good-naturedly as he continued to scoop the surprisingly delicious flavour into his mouth. Sara winked at him and turned and bounced away happily.

Ten minutes later, well after Nick had finished his treat, Sara returned to the table, carrying three very large bags of the 'bare necessities', to find that her seat was already occupied by a leggy blond. She was leaning forward on the table patting Nick's resting arm as she spoke excitedly. Sara could feel her heart slow and her blood chill. _'Look at that bimbo hanging all over him,'_ she thought sadly and pleaded silently to Nick,_ 'C'mon Nicky, brush her off. You're here with me. Brush her off.'_ Sara stood a few feet behind Nick and watched them for a moment, silently hoping that if she concentrated hard enough her wish would be granted. She didn't know how long she had been standing there staring at the girl before the blond popped her head up and looked at Sara, a puzzled expression forming on her face. Sara didn't understand the girl's reaction at first. Then when the girl began to mimic Sara's pose she understood. Sara had been glaring at the girl. She quickly wiped the look, which most would mistake for jealousy, off of her face before Nick had a chance to turn around. _'What's wrong with me? Why am I acting like Nick's my property? Yea, we came here together, but only as friends. Why do I care if he's with some other girl… some blond girl that's probably fresh out of high school… and sitting in my seat?' _Sara scolded herself for getting off-track,_ 'I don't care. I'm not jealous. We're just friends.'_

Nick had been enjoying talking to Laura. After all he is a guy. He knew that there wasn't anything there; he certainly wasn't interested in going out with her or using the phone number that she had handed him a few minutes ago, but he did enjoy the attention that she was showing him. Who doesn't like to be hit on by an attractive member of the opposite sex? It was a good ego boost. When he noticed her gaze travel elsewhere and harden he followed it and whirled around in his seat. Standing a few feet away was Sara with a confused look on her face. Nick jumped up from the table immediately to face her. Sara plastered a fake and closed the last few feet between them. Nick smiled awkwardly and glanced between the two women and then down at his shoes. _'Why does this feel so weird? I have nothing to be ashamed of. Sara and I aren't dating… what does it matter if she caught me flirting with another girl? Why is this so awkward?'_

Sara cleared her throat, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything…"

"No, no. You weren't!" Nick supplied a little too quickly. "This is, umm…" he glanced down at the paper in his hands with the girls name and number on it, "…Laura. This is Laura. She saw all my, err, my shopping bags and… uh, was just offering to, um, to help. Carry them." He sputtered, mentally kicking himself. _'I knew it, she's a gold-digger,'_ Sara thought, _'she saw all his bags and figures he's loaded.'_ The look of disgust on Sara's face did not go unnoticed by Laura, nor did Nick's jumpy attitude.

"Yes. I'm sorry. Are you two dating?" Laura confronted the elephant in the room.

"No. We're just friends. We were actually just leaving though. So thanks for the offer, Laura was it?" Sara spat her name venomously despite her best efforts, "But I can help Nicky with our bags." She added the suffix to his name and 'our bags' to politely scare the blond off.

"Alright," Laura narrowed her eyes slightly at Sara and then turned her sights to Nick, "Nice to meet you Nick. You know how to reach me." Nick tightened his lips together and forced a polite smile. While avoiding Laura's face he nodded his head and lifted his hand in a goodbye gesture. Laura turned and stalked away.

Nick and Sara stood there awkwardly for a few minutes unsure what to say to explain their behaviour. Instead Nick decided to pass over it, "Damn it, Sidle. Didn't I say to only get what you needed? What happened to being responsible?" He laughed as he gestured to her armful of bags. She set them on the floor beside the table and rested her hands on her hips in a disbelieving manner.

"These are the essentials… I need everything in here." She smiled at him as she handed over his wallet. Just as he was placing it back in his pocket she put her hand on his arm to stop him, "By the way, cute picture." Sara beamed as she waved Nick's driver's licence in front of his face.


	5. Visiting the North Pole

After some negotiations Sara returned Nick's licence in exchange for being able to help carry the bags to the car. They were casually strolling towards the mall's main exit side by side in perfect sync. "Did you have fun?" Nick asked glancing sideways to look at her face.

"Of course," she replied sweetly nudging him in the side, "You?"

"Of course," he mimicked. They were almost to the doors when Nick saw something in the corner of his eye, "You know what would make this day perfect and memorable?"

"No…" she asked suspiciously, "what?" He simply flashed his infamous smile her way and shifted his load so that his five bags were balanced in one hand and motioned for her to do the same. Once one of her hands was free he grabbed it and began to lead her towards a very elaborate set-up of the North Pole. "Nick. No. Uh-uh. I am not sitting on Santa's lap." She shook her head firmly.

"Ahh, please Sara!! Pretty please?! I'll never ask you for anything else! I know that somewhere inside there's a six year old kid dying to do this!" He beamed at her excitedly. She knew that she would look foolish getting her picture taken with Santa, especially in the middle of a very public mall, but she also knew that she was going to do it -- because Nick wanted her too. She couldn't say no to him. He was smiling so wide that his face was likely to crack in half and there was a wondrous, childish excitement sparkling in his eyes.

"Fine," she grumbled, pretending to be annoyed. After all, Sara couldn't let him see that she was really just as excited as he was… it would ruin their game. 'Victory' was so much sweeter for Nick when Sara feigned reluctance. He pulled the hand that he still gripped up to his mouth and gave it a quick kiss and then guided her between the velvet ropes and into the line. There were only two kids in line ahead of them. "You're going first," Sara warned him. He just nodded his agreement.

As the picture was snapped of the child ahead of Nick he was so excited that he actually started bouncing. Sara admired him silently as he hopped in place. _'He's so cute. I love how he gets all excited about these things still. Even our line of work – seeing the worst that the human race has to offer – can't take away his spirit. He's just like a big kid.'_ Sara grinned goofily as she watched Nick sit on Santa's lap lightly and toss his arm around the jolly man's shoulders. Grinning from ear to ear, and glancing over at Sara to make sure she was still watching, Nick posed with the man of the season. Then Nick stood up and shook hands with Santa. Sara started to make her way over to Santa carrying all nine bags, which Nick had given to her before bounding off for his photo. Sara handed them off to Nick, laughing at his juvenile behaviour, and hesitantly made her way to Santa. Nick walked out of the 'North Pole' to where the photos could be picked up. Nick handed the lady working the counter his ticket and turned around to watch Sara's picture.

Sara was sitting happily in the man's lap and Nick watched as Santa snaked his arms around her waist pulling her closer than Nick thought was necessary. Nick's joy vanished as he watched the picture snapped but the old man make no move to release Sara. Instead he leaned forward and spoke softly to Sara, making her giggle. She looked over to the side and saw Nick watching them, noticeably devoid of the cheer he had been bursting with moments before. She thought she knew why. Sara was going to get off of Santa's lap and walk back over to Nick to pick up the photo but suddenly the earlier scene of Nick and Laura cozying up to each other flashed through her mind. So instead she turned to face Santa better, which also gave her a better view of Nick, and decided to get cosier herself. She threw an arm around Santa's shoulder and talked to him quietly and laughing exaggeratedly anytime he was remotely funny. Periodically she glanced up to see Nick's reactions. Their bags lay forgotten at his feet and he had a real pout on his face. _'This is stupid. I shouldn't be flirting with Santa. I'm only doing it to… get back at? … Nick. I don't know why I want to make him jealous; although it's interesting that he is. Maybe he wants to be more tha-- Stop! Okay, this is enough.'_ Sara decided to hop off of the man's lap just as Nick strolled over determinedly, clutching something red and white in his hands.

"I was wonder, **Santa**," Nick spoke with an edge, "If we could take another picture, seeing as theirs no kids around…" he had gestured to himself and Sara as he spoke.

"Sure," the man replied patting the leg not occupied by Sara.

"No. I mean, without you… Just her and I." Nick clarified, showing the object in his hands. It was a Santa Claus hat that he had bought earlier; he planned to wear it to the CSI Christmas party. Sara hopped off of Santa's lap and smiled as Nick placed his own cap on his head. The old man was also amused by Nick's suggestion and so vacated his throne. Nick promptly sat down and patted his knee for Sara, waggling his eyebrow suggestively as his playfulness took over his jealousy. Sara perched herself on top of Nick's lap. She tried to sit delicately, unnecessarily self-conscious of her weight, but Nick would have none of it. He followed Santa's lead and snaked his arms around her, but he pulled her right up against his chest and peeked his head over her right shoulder. She visibly relaxed in his arms and rested her own arms top of his, both looking delighted and child-like as the elf photographer took two final pictures and handed them tickets.

Sara turned to thank Santa but felt Nick's hand on the small of her back, gently guiding her towards the photo pick-up. He called his thanks over his shoulder as he kept his arm protectively in place as long as he could. Nick paid for all four photos and handed Sara the picture of herself solo and one of the both of them. She held up the picture of herself, "Trade you?" Nick nodded vigorously and they swapped. Storing the pictures in a safe spot, the pair picked up their shopping bags and finally exited the mall to go home.


	6. Pot stirring

By the time they had reached Sara's place, both had decided that they were too tired to do anything else today. So Nick helped Sara carry her bags up to apartment and left. Sara was a bit disappointed that they didn't get to relax together, but at the same time she knew that had Nick stayed she would have fallen asleep and probably make a fool of herself by drooling or snoring or something else along those lines.

After she had locked the door she turned around and stared at the bags of items that she had purchased at the mall. The pile seemed unusually large this year; she had expanded her list after seeing Nick's unbelievably long list. Sara's had consisted of her parents, an old college roommate, and a friend from Seattle. She didn't even have to get Nick's present because she had his ready and wrapped almost two weeks ago. Nick's list had his immediate family (there was at least thirty people), the nightshift, and an additional fifteen people, some of whom had been featured in Nick's stories but she hadn't heard of the majority of them. When he saw her gaping at his list he had assured her that the fifteen unknowns weren't getting anything elaborate, just chocolates or flowers or something simple. She had nodded dumbly and added the nightshift crew and a few fictitious names to her list. Actually, Nick and Sara had decided to go Dutch for presents for the nightshift to save Nick from poverty. Sara had taken those gifts home with her because she was a better wrapper than Nick, and still Nick's load overpowered her own 4:1.

She safely stored the bags of presents in the hall closet and made her way to her room to prepare for bed. As she went through the motions her mind kept replaying the events of the day. As she brushed her teeth Sara found herself grinning stupidly, drooling toothpaste foam down the front of her shirt in the process, as she thought of Nick with the Santa hat on. She quickly rinsed out her mouth and made her way down the hall back to the closet in search of her purse containing the pictures. She pulled out the two photos and ran her thumb lovingly over the solo one of Nick. _'He looks so happy, so innocent…This has got to be the cutest picture I've ever seen,'_ Sara thought happily, _'Well maybe the second cutest.'_ She switched her attention to the picture of her self on St. Nick's lap. She put the picture of just Nick back in her purse intending to bring it to work to show Catherine and brought the other one back to her room. She studied it for a few minutes more trying to recall the phenomenal feeling that had washed over her body as Nick pulled her close. Then she propped the picture upright on her nightstand and crawled into the bed and drifted off into an uncommonly peaceful sleep.

When Sara woke up she had an hour before shift. She got up, showered, and heated up some left over pizza from two nights ago. Since she didn't do anything fancy with her hair, word minimal make-up, and her wardrobe was seriously limited due to her overflowing laundry basket, Sara was ready and out the door within forty five minutes. She drove straight to the lab and got there just before shift started.  
After depositing her stuff in her locker she made her way to the break room, arriving immediately behind Grissom. As she entered the room, all eyes turned to her; some were just looking quizzical and some did double takes at the time. Sara was notorious for her … dedication … and there was once a rumour that she secretly lived in the lab. Needless to say how surprised when she rolled in last. This was the first time she had been there later than twenty minutes before shift. She just shrugged and found a seat next to Warrick. Grissom quickly shelled out assignments. Today Sara was working with Warrick, Nick with Catherine, and Grissom continued on his case from the previous night with Greg. Once they were given their cases the pairs were off to their designated crime scenes.

"So how was the date?" Warrick grinned as they pulled out of the parking lot in the direction of their scene. Sara rolled her eyes and left out a long, annoyed breath rather than respond verbally. She then had to quickly turn her head to look out the passenger side window to hide the growing smile on her face as she recalled her time with Nick. "Yea," Warrick continued, "I figured that he was losing his touch. He hasn't really dated anyone in mon-- well let's just say it has been a while."

"Wow… I guess you're right. I never really thought about it. When did he decide to… slow down his social life?" Warrick had Sara's full attention.

"Oh, a while ago… actually, it was right around the time that you guys started to spend more time together outside work…" Warrick trailed off mysteriously, watching for a minute as Sara's face heated up and confusion muddled her features. That was it for their conversation. Warrick decided that he had said enough to get her mind going in the right direction and Sara was too lost in thought to pay attention to Warrick. _'When was the last time Nicky told me about a date? Well… I guess we've never really talked about our love lifes -- it was always a bit awkward -- but when was the last time I've heard about one of Nick's dates? Greg used to tell all of the details… Do I have something to do with the reason he's not seeing anyone? No, that's crazy. Stop it. Warrick's just trying to stir the pot…'_ Sara tried to dismiss the thoughts as one of Warrick's jokes, that kind that nobody really gets, but try as she might, she could not banish them altogether. And she found that the more that she thought about it, the more she was hoping that it wasn't just Warrick's sense of humour. _'But why do I even care? The season must be getting to me...'_


	7. Placing pictures

After shift was over Sara made her way into the locker room. She had been planning to ask Cat and the guys if they wanted to catch a bite to eat, but she wasn't really feeling like it anymore. Her and Warrick's case was one of those cases that chilled your bones and haunted your dreams and it had left her in a miserable mood. _'Well it looks like everyone's gone home already anyway,'_ Sara shrugged to herself upon entering the empty room. She made her way to her locker, and quickly switched her work items for home items. In the process of switching her protective vest for her jacket, Sara's purse was knocked to the side and what appeared to be a card floated to the ground. It took her a minute to figure out what it was. She picked it up and flipped it over, staring once again at the picture of Nick on Santa's lap. _'Ah! I meant to show this to Catherine,'_ Sara scolded herself, _'She would have loved it; it's one of the best pictures I've ever seen of him.'_ As her thoughts turned to her best friend once again Sara felt the atmosphere around her lighten, as if whatever had been fogging her mood was cleared in an instant. _'Hmmm, maybe I should keep this here…'_ Sara smiled and taped the picture of Nick on her locker door. She extracted and traded items for a few minutes longer. She was about to leave when Nick walked into the room. He headed for his locker two away from Sara's and she abandoned her locker to pay attention to him.

"Hey. Heard you had a rough case…" Nick stated with a light tone but Sara recognized some concern marring his handsome features. He always tried to be subtle when making his inquiries, to avoid the wrath of Sara, so he attempted to hide his interest by quickly swapping his vest and gun for his jacket.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad…" she paused considering how she was feeling about it. Nick shut his locker and leaned against it, facing her with an expectant expression. "But don't worry. I'm fine." Her honest answer was received with a sceptical look. "Seriously. I wasn't -- it was kinda getting to me at first… but I don't know. I'm feeling much better now." She moved to shut her locker but was stopped by Nick's hand propping open the locker door.

"That me?" he asked opening the locker wider and stepping a little closer for a better look. Embarrassed Sara pushed him slightly so he would move his hand and then quickly slammed the door shut. He grinned at her goofily, "You put me in your locker." She started to blush and adopted a grin similar to his. "I'm in your locker," he rephrased his earlier comment, sounding quite proud of himself. She didn't understand why he was making it into such a big deal and tried to explain herself.

"Yeah well, I thought it was as good a place as any…" she shrugged it off and started to leave. Nick turned and followed her. As they were nearing the front door they passed Greg.

"Sara put me in her locker," Nick whispered conspiratorially as he passed. Sara laughed at his childishness and pulled him out the door before any more was said. Once outside she released his arm from her grip. "Want to have breakfast with me?" he asked while unconsciously touching the spot on his arm where she had held him, in a vain attempt to dismiss the odd tingling sensation it had adopted.

"Why so you can tell the waiter's that I put you in my locker?"

"Maybe…" he replied coyly.

Sara laughed. "Want to come to my place? We could eat and then make that gingerbread house I bought yesterday." Nick answered her by smiling and climbing into the passenger seat of her Tahoe.

"Is this just so I can't tell anyone else?" He asked as he fastened his seatbelt and she started the vehicle.

"Maybe…" she quoted, getting Nick's chuckle in return.

"Fine. But only because I can still call people." As if needing to prove his statement he reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved his cell phone as they left the parking lot. He flipped it opened and hit the 3rd speed dial -- guess whose number is number one -- and winked at Sara as he waited for the person to pick up the other man. "Hey, Catherine, it's Nick. Sara Sidle put a picture of me in her locker!" He exclaimed the last part enthusiastically and then abruptly hung up the phone. "Voice mail," he explained as Sara laughed and shook her head.

They pulled up in front of Sara's place about fifteen minutes later. Deciding that the quickest way to do this was to divide and conquer, Sara had Nick make the breakfast (pancakes in the shape of cactuses with icing sugar) while she got everything set up to make the gingerbread house. She gathered everything they would need and began to place them on the coffee table in front of the television figuring they could watch a movie while they worked. She had wrapped a cutting board in tin-foil and divided the candies into different bowls by the time Nick shouted that breakfast was ready.

Nick's pancakes were absolutely perfect. He smiled as he explained that his skill was owed to a great teacher and years of practice; this was the meal that his family ate every Christmas morning when he was growing up and that once his mother had taught him how, he had carried on the tradition himself. They worked through the stack of pancakes fairly quickly and tossed the dishes into the sink so that they could clean them at the same time as the material from the gingerbread house.

Sara told Nick to go into the living room and pick out a movie and set it up while she made the icing. Nick immediately accomplished his task by choosing the first Christmas movie he saw and then settled himself into the couch directly in front of the coffee table full of the gingerbread house supplies and television. He started up the movie and fast forwarded through the coming attractions. Once he had made it to the beginning of the movie he paused it and waited for Sara to return.

"So what'd you pick?" Sara asked as she strolled in carrying a large bowl of white icing and a spatula.

"A Christmas classic, one which I was very surprised to see on your shelf Ms. Sidle." Nick grinned as she sat down next to him. He hit the play button and camera zoomed over roof-tops and down streets until resting upon a few vaguely familiar puppets.

"A Muppet Christmas Carol. Good choice, Nicky." Sara laughed.

"I knew you'd like it. Plus, I know that we've both seen it and so it won't matter if we switch our attention between the film and the house," he beamed at his own logic.

"Here." Sara handed Nick a clear plastic cone that was open at both ends. "It's for the icing," she explained. He held open the top of the bag, figuring that that is what she wanted his help with. Sara sighed and sat down next to him, their knees touching. She set the bowl of icing and spatula down on the table, picked up a piece of plastic and placed it inside the bag and pushed it until the tip of the plastic stuck through the cone from the smaller opening.

"Good call… I guess it wouldn't have held the icing very well before," he looked slightly embarrassed and continued to hold the cone from the larger hole, opening it wide and holding it out to Sara.

"No, don't hold it like that. You have to hold it in one hand. Wrap your fingers around the body of the cone…" she paused as he did as she asked, "yea, like that. Now cup the edges over your hand."

"How?" Nick looked at her blankly. "Try and remember that I'm gingerbread virgin. You'll have to be patient with me."

She laughed, "Here, like this." Sara reached over and wrapped one of her hands around his fist gripping the icing bag. With the other one she began folding the edges outward around his fist so that the centre wasn't obscured anymore and the rest of the plastic formed snugly around his fist. Nick tried hard to keep the flush from appearing on his face, but the combined sensations his hand in the gentle grip of both of hers and the warmth from where their legs were touching pushed the blood to his face faster than he could combat it. _'Stop over-reacting. She's just showing me how to hold a freaking bag. This is ridiculous. I'm letting what Catherine said get to me! Now stop reading into everything and focus,'_ he thought sternly. Suddenly he felt something warm and gooey slide over one of his palms, and jumped slightly at the unexpected feeling. His thoughts had distracted him from his surroundings so he hadn't noticed when Sara had released his fist and began to scrape the icing from the bowl and into thin bag covering Nick's hand.

"I told you it'd feel funny," Sara giggled at his reaction. He quickly recovered his composure, grinning sheepishly at her.

"That why I'm holding and you're pouring?"

"Partly… and partly because you'd probably pour more on me than in the bag," she smirked at him as she set the bowl aside and draped a damp cloth across the top to prevent it from hardening. "Do you want to do the icing? Or would you rather hold up the walls?"

"Which one hold less opportunity for me to mess up?" he chuckled.

"Probably the latter," she replied and he promptly passed her the icing. She secured the top of the bag so that the icing wouldn't spill out. "You can either hold he base there," she nodded towards the foil covered cutting board, "on your lap, or you can leave it on the table. You will be holding the walls of the house upright until the icing hardens, so whichever spot will be more comfortable."

Nick lifted the board off the table and set it down on his lap. Sara reached across the table and picked up a pentagon shaped piece of gingerbread and applied a generous amount of frosting to the bottom. She placed it parallel with the width of the board, about ¾ of the way down the length. "Now just hold it upright while I start to put up the rest of the walls." Sara instructed as she picked up a small rectangular piece and began icing two of its sides.


	8. The house that love built

It took them about twenty-five minutes to get the house properly assembled -- Nick had become lost in though at one point and the end result was one side of the roof divided into quarters. So Sara had to patch the piece back together with the icing and then reapply it to the appropriate spot to complete the house. Once everything was standing properly and reinforced with extra icing, they set the structure on the table to harden. They covered the icing so it would last during their break. They both leaned back into the couch to enjoy the movie for a while. Nick casually threw his arm over the back of the couch, and Sara subtly shifted to rest against his side.

Before Nick knew it the movie was over. As the credits began to roll he became aware that at some point he had draped his arm around Sara's shoulder and that he was now gently stroking her arm with his fingers. Sara's head was now resting softly on his shoulder. He picked up the remote with his free hand and stopped the movie and shut of the television. Silence reigned and neither moved; Nick registered the sound of Sara's deep, even breathing. _'She's asleep; that's why she isn't moving.'_ He scooted a little lower in the seat while tilting his head against hers and breathing in the scent of her hair. _'I should probably wake her… I mean we still have to decorate this house.'_ Despite this knowledge he couldn't bring himself to wake her just yet. _'But it can wait another hour or two… It'll give me some more time to think of how to do this.'_ He wasn't talking about the gingerbread house at the last thought. Nick shut his eyes and replayed the conversation he had had with Catherine earlier that day.

* * *

_"C'mon, Nick. I don't know who you think you're fooling," she had said on the drive back to the lab after processing the scene, "All that you've talked about today is Sara. She's all that you've been talking about for a while."_

_"It's not like that, Cath. The only reason I was talking about her was because I hung out with her all day yesterday, so by default my stories about yesterday have to include her," he had defended himself._

_"But Nicky, you've exhausted all your stories about yesterday already. In fact you've even recycled some of them. I've lost count of how many times you've grumbled about Santa's 'inappropriate advances' while getting her picture taken."_

_"Oh come on!" Nick had kept at his normal volume but he was still obviously upset at the memory, "We were in the middle of a mall, with kids around and he had his arms wrapped around her entirely too tight. He was more of a boa constrictor than a Santa!"_

_"Nick," Catherine had laughed incredulously at his comparison._

_"You saw the picture, Catherine!"_

_"Yes, I did. The picture that you conveniently carry around in your wallet," Catherine accused._

_"So that I could show it to you," he said indignantly._

_"Liar. I saw the look on your face when you realized you had proof about Santa's shocking behaviour… you hadn't even thought about showing it to me before I doubted your version of what happened."_

_"No -- I, ahh, I put it in there… you see, the reason… I wasn't going to show it to you 'cause… err, Warrick. I brought it to show, W-Warrick," Nick fumbled over his words scrambling to justify the reason that he had trimmed the picture to the perfect size to fit into the display section in his wallet as soon as he got home that day. The effort had been as much for his benefit as for Catherine's._

_"Fine, I never really expected you to say it out loud anyway." Catherine had dropped the subject after that until they had pulled into the lab parking lot. As he turned off the car and started to undo his seatbelt she had picked it up again. "Nick," she spoke his name seriously so that he let go of his seatbelt and looked over at her. She put her hand gently on his arm as she continued softly, "I'm not asking for a confession, I don't need one. I can see it there between you and Sara and you would too if you would just open your eyes." He had tried to protest at this point but she raised her hand to stop him. "You've stopped dating, all your free time is spent with her, and from the amount of times you drop her name into an average conversation I'd say she's always on your mind. Nick, her picture is the only one in your wallet and judging from the way that you sized it to fit there, I doubt that it's going to go anywhere else any time soon. Whether you want to admit it or not, all of that means something, something more than friends. You two have been balancing on the tightrope between friendship and romance for far too long. I hope that this conversation is enough of a push to make you lose your balance and finally fall on the side of romance." Catherine had then opened her door and jumped out of the car and walked around to the trunk to bring the evidence inside. Nick followed suit._

_Once they had both been loaded up with what they had collected, Nick shut the truck and the pair strolled towards the building. Just before entering Catherine turned to him one last time. "Just so you know, she talks about you just as much… possibly more. And keep your eye out for what she does with your picture. I'll bet anything that it won't be hidden in an album or on a forgotten shelf in the corner of her apartment. It'll be displayed somewhere where she can see it everyday."_

* * *

Nick tried to dismiss what Catherine had told him, but it was considerably harder to ignore her than it was to ignore Warrick. He had always trusted Catherine; she was kind of like a mother or big sister that was always looking out for him. He could always convince himself that Warrick was just messing with him, but he knew Catherine wouldn't say any of that stuff just for amusement. And the more that he considered that, the more unsteady he became. Catherine would be proud to know that her words were what knocked him off the tightrope. By the end of shift he had decided that it was time to be honest with himself and with Sara. He didn't want to pretend that they were just friends anymore. Now he just had to work up the nerve to follow through with his decision.

Nick had been really nervous when he found her at her locker. He followed Catherine's advice and looked for the little signs that everyone else had always told him were there. As she was assuring him that she was in good spirit the newest addition to her locker, the photo of him, had caught his eye and renewed his confidence. All morning he had been trying to find the best moment to bring up the subject, only to chicken out every time an opportunity presented itself.

Forty-five minutes later Sara woke up. Nick had considered waking her up several times, but he kept waiting because he didn't want her to move out of his arms. After all, this was the first time he had experienced it with the knowledge that he was falling in love with her. This was the first time he could really enjoy the moment. When she had woken up he couldn't help but be a little bit disappointed.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked pushing herself upright and smoothing out her hair.

"You looked happy," he replied softly. It was a good response; it didn't really answer her question but it appeared to. "Did you have a good dream? You were smiling."

"Yeah," Sara replied blushing brightly, "It was a pretty good one." Sara had been dreaming about Nick… in a not so friendly way.

"What was it about?" Nick had a good feeling from the tinge of her cheeks that it was about him. When Sara hesitated Nick pushed. "It was about me, wasn't it?"

"You made a guest appearance," she said lightly, "Now let's get back to this house… it's not going to decorate itself." Nick just laughed. Sara picked up the bag of icing and handed Nick some Smarties. "I'll put the icing on the roof, and you make a design out of the candy. Any design that you want." Sara squeezed the bag to start icing the top of the house but quick dropped the bag as a sharp pain went through her hand. She yelped at the unexpected soreness.

"What's wrong?" Nick put the candies on the table and faced her with concern as she started shaking out her hand hoping for the gesture to magically sooth whatever was aggravated. "What happened?"

"I think it's just tired from before… my hand was getting sore just before we stopped. Icing is a lot harder then it looks," she laughed, "I think I know what arthritis feels like."

"Here, let me see." Nick reached out and grabbed her right hand, the one that she had been shaking around. He took it in both of his and began to massage it gently. He kept his head down, watching his thumb moving in circular motions around her palm. Sara sucked in a silent breath as Nick caressed her hurt hand. The minute he touched it the ache seemed to vanish as she focused on him rather than the pain. Each stroke was made with purpose and delivered in such a gentle loving manner. She could feel her body temperature rising and the butterflies in her stomach go into a commotion. Nick looked up into her face as he felt her hand tremor slightly. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" Nick's face was filled with compassion and for a brief moment Sara could see all of the emotions that had been bubbling beneath the surface for longer than either cared to admit. Sara felt her hear beat pick up and lost control of her voice, so to respond she just shook her head 'no'. Nick noticed the difference with interest, "Does it feel any better?"

"Much." Sara's reply was whispered. Nick stopped massaging her hand and she pulled it away, clearing her throat and standing up. "New plan: you, ahh, you frost the roof… and I'll go get some, err, ice… from the kitchen… you know, for my hand. I'll be right back in a bit." She headed straight to the kitchen.

"What was that?" Sara asked quietly when she entered the kitchen. She leaned against the counter and took deep breaths until her body returned to normal. _'Get a grip, Sara. It's just Nick… my best friend Nick. Nothing strange is happening between us. Whatever I think just happened out there didn't really happen. That… that was just… just something brought on from…Warrick and his stupid meddling. Oh, and the dream! Yea, that weird tension out there was created from Warrick and an over-active imagination. Go back out there and see, it was nothing.'_ Sara told herself calmly. Still she loitered around the kitchen, looking for any reason to postpone going back to Nick just yet. She cleaned up the dishes from earlier, wiped up the area surrounding the sink, and made herself an ice pack. Finally, she forced herself out of the kitchen.

As she crept back into the room she saw Nick hunched over the gingerbread house with one hand squeezing out the icing and the other one reaching into the bowl of Smarties. She watched him with interest for a few moments. His face was a mask of concentration and his tongue was poking out the corner of his mouth as he arranged his design. _'He looks so cute,' _Sara sighed inwardly, _'Hey! I thought I left those thoughts in the kitchen!'_ She shook her head violently to dislodge the unfriendly thoughts and approached Nick. "Come up with a design?" Sara asked coolly.

"Yup," Nick grinned up at her as she sat beside him on the couch. "Check it out." He turned the house so that one side of the roof was facing her. In green Smarties Nick had made a Christmas tree shape and filled the rest of the roof with red Smarties. "In honour of the season," he grinned. Then he turned the house 180 degrees to show the side that he had been working on when she entered the room. This time green was the background colour and the main shape was a giant red heart.

"Cute… what's the message behind that one?" Sara purposely kept the hope out of her voice.

"I should think it was obvious, Ms. Sidle. It's the house that love built." Nick laughed, "Actually I just needed another symbol that red and green would work for and Santa's face seemed a little too complicated for a beginner to take on."

"Good man, knows his limitations," Sara winked. "Okay, so you are on icing duty now since I am… well, damaged at the moment. But since you're the rookie, I also want to let you do the actual decorating."

"So what are you going to do?" Nick turned a quizzical face her way.

"I am going to supervise," she giggled while poking his side. "Now then I was thinking we should frost the foil before anything else. You know, to make it look snowy. Then we could add some snowmen on the lawn with marshmallows, a cookie crumb pathway, some pretzel fencing around the yard, and green gumdrop bushes. Oh, and sprinkling some sugar over the icing makes it seem more snowy. Now for the house, it doesn't really matter to me how you design the door or windows or anything, but I find that the windows look best if you use lightly colour Jolly Ranchers for the window panes…" Sara continued listing off her plan for the house to a very amused Nick who just nodded dumbly to her suggestions. _'At least she's at ease again; I was afraid I had scared her off earlier…I'll wait a while longer before pushing things. She needs the time and I need to think of the best way to tell her.'_


	9. Perfection

Sara woke up without the aid of her alarm. She lazily rolled over to check out the time; there was still three hours until she had to go to work. She didn't feel like getting up, she was actually still feeling a bit tired, but knew that she'd never fall back asleep. It was one of her worst qualities: once she woke up she couldn't fall asleep again to save her life. So she threw the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed until they found the ground.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Sara rubbed her face with her hands in a sad attempt to rid herself of the drowsy feeling. She slid her feet into the slippers, which were waiting mere inches away from her feet, but did not stand up. _'Hmm, what to do, what to do?' _Sara pondered as she struggled to find a reason to get out of bed,'_I could laundry. I've been putting that off for a couple of days -- but I don't feel like doing laundry. It can wait another day or so; I've still got plenty of wearable outfits. I could…ahhh… read? Oh, but I keep forgetting to buy some new books and I've read each of my forensic ones at least six times. Maybe I should just clean… I'm sure that there's a mess from the gingerbre--'_ Sara stopped mid-thought as she remembered her activities from earlier in the day. _'I don't even remember finishing up the gingerbread house… Oh no! I must have fallen asleep! I didn't even think about how I ended up in bed!'_ Her eyes drifted to the photograph propped up beside her bed as her mind drifted to thoughts of her morning with Nick. She was surprised to find a note. She felt a smile tug at her lips as she silently read through the note.

"**Good evening Sleeping Beauty,**

**I have to tell you, my ego is seriously injured right now; that's the second time that you've fallen asleep on me today. I'm starting to doubt the value of my company. I always assumed I was the perfect blend of charm and mystery to keep the ladies awake and wanting more of me… I must be slipping.**

**I hope you had a good rest. I obviously moved you to your own bed, I can tell you from experience that your couch is not exactly back-friendly so I hope you don't mind.**

**I also took the liberty of cleaning up after I was finished making the gingerbread house. Yup, that's right. I finished the gingerbread house all by myself! And I did a damn fine job of it too! (Try not to be too critical though… remember: I'm a rookie.)**

**Anyway, I will see you at work tomorrow night (I have tonight off). The house of your dreams is complete and waiting for your approval on the coffee table. Hope it meets your expectations.**

— **Saint Nicholas**

**P.S. Nice spot for our photo. Mine's in the same place at home."**

Sara laughed as she read over the note one more and then hopped out of bed, eager to inspect Nick's design. As she entered her common room and noticed the gingerbread house her breath caught in her throat. It looked magnificent!

Nick had done everything that she had asked for and more. In addition to the Smartie designs she had seen on the room earlier, Nick had added little icicles dangling form the sides of the roof. He had added two doors to the house, one in the front and one on the opposite side, made out of graham crackers. The front door even sported a green Lifesaver as a wreath. The windows were made out of two yellow Jolly Ranchers divided by icing into quarters. Immediately beside the Jolly Ranchers, Nick had added pieces of red liquorice as shutters. He had even added a little piece of graham cracker underneath each window to serve as a sill. Around the edges of the cutting board he had added pretzels to act as a fence. On the majority of the base around the house he had applied a thick layer of icing to represent snow, complete with uneven mounds and sprinkled with sugar as instructed. The small section not covered by snow was made to look like an icy pond. He had used a combination of maple-syrup and sugar; those combined with the silver foil beneath made it look clear and icy once hardened. Scattered randomly around the ground Nick had placed stacked large green gum drops as pine trees, Cheese-strings peeled at the very top as bare trees and two snowmen made out of marshmallows. The snowmen even had black gum drop hats, liquorice scarves, small carrot noses, tooth-pick arms, and sprinkles to make up eyes, mouth, and button designs. Leading up to the front door was a trail of crushed up cookies to form a walkway, which was lined on either side by smaller green gum drops as a hedge. Finally, Nick's attention to detail had managed to convince him to frost the top of any object likely to get covered it if were really snowing, such as the fence and trees and top of the snowmen.

Sara sat there for a long time, staring in awe at the house Nick had made. He had indeed created the perfect house. He had paid enough attention to her to add everything that she had asked for, but he had also been extremely creative and resourceful and added his own personal touches. For example, she hadn't bought any Lifesavers and he must have scrounged around in the kitchen for a while to find the syrup and liquorice. When she finally got up to get ready for work, she had a little less than two hours so jumped in the shower, got changed, grabbed her keys and went out to grab some fast food before shift. This time she was the first of the night crew, minus Grissom, to arrive to the lab. She had forty minutes to kill before shift started, so she finished reading the magazine that Nick had interrupted the day they had gone shopping. Although Sara considered herself to be a quick reader, and she only had only been three fairly short articles from finishing the magazine, it took her all forty minutes to read through it because her mind kept wandering back to the house on her coffee table and the man who had built it for her.


	10. It's the thought that counts

Several blocks away, lying in a queen-sized bed, Nick Stokes was attempting to get some sleep. He had been busy since leaving Sara's place. After Sara had fallen asleep and Nick had put her in her room, Nick had been provided with ample time to think without interruption. At first his mind was reeling from his discovery of where Sara had placed other Santa photo. Then, as he had carefully completed the gingerbread house, he was trying to imagine a grand gesture to let Sara know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he wanted something more with her and he was thinking long-term. It was only while cleaning up that he had found the perfect idea.

After everything was clean and he had written Sara her note, he raced out of there. He drove straight home and hopped onto his computer and got to work. It took him a few hours of tedious work to get the foundation of his present made, and by this point he was sufficiently tired, but he didn't let that stop him. The mall was only going to be open for a little longer and he wanted to get everything done by tonight. After all, it had taken him this long to find the perfect Christmas present for Sara and he wanted to make sure that he had it ready by the Lab's party in two days... not to mention that he was hoping that this gift would change both of their lives forever. He had tonight off anyway; he had plenty of time to sleep.

So he had driven like a mad-man and fought through the hoards of people doing frantic Christmas shopping to get Sara's present custom made. The kind lady behind the desk told him that she could have it ready for him by the time the mall closed so he had spent the additional fifty minutes walking through the mall, finishing off his Christmas shopping. Needless to say, he was tired by the time he had gotten home.

Nick put Sara's present in the bottom of his closet with the rest of his purchases and quickly changed and climbed into bed. As he was waiting for sleep to claim him, he picked up the Santa photo from his bedside table and studied it in the dim moonlight floating in through a gap in his curtains. He hadn't spent too much on Sara's present, but it was hands down the hardest one he had ever worked on. He put more thought and effort into her gift than he had put into making that gingerbread house… and he had put a lot of both into house. His last thoughts before falling to sleep were more akin to prayers; he was wishing with all soul that his present would be well received and would bring about the changes he longed for.

Nick was so tired that he slept almost until he had to go to work again. He hadn't set his alarm because he figured he'd wake up naturally long before shift, but his body had had a different idea. So when he rolled over and saw that he barely had ten minutes before he had to leave he started to scramble. He leapt out of bed and into the kitchen. He threw some frozen waffles in the toaster and then quickly went to shower. He was finished at the same time as the waffles. Wrapped in only a towel he tossed the waffles on a paper towel to cool while he went to find some cloths. With one minute to spare he grabbed his waffles and ran out the door to his car.

He chewed thoughtfully as he weaved in and out of traffic, _'I deserve a medal for that. Up and out the door in nine minutes…'_ He hoped that traffic remained this good the whole way. He wanted to get to the lab before Grissom handed out assignments so that he had time to talk to Sara. _'I hope she still doesn't have a date for the party tomorrow night,'_ Nick frowned at the prospect of his plans being ruined. He wanted to ask Sara if she wanted to car pool so that they could leave the party together and exchange presents after. Nick glanced down absently and saw that his gas tank was on empty. He sighed and turned into the first station he saw and filled up, _'I guess I'll have to wait until after shift.'_


	11. Catherine's plan

"Wow, Greg. It's really getting serious with Angela, eh?" Catherine spoke up from the backseat as Sara drove the three of them towards the crime scene.

"What makes you say that?" Greg tried to hide his confirmation but the goofy grin that had spread across her face at the sound of her name made the answer to the question abundantly clear.

"You're wallet," Catherine shrugged.

"What about it?" Sara said curiously, glancing in her rear-view mirror to look at Catherine.

"Well, when Greg here so chivalrously paid for our coffee at the drive-thru back there, I noticed her picture in his wallet when he reached for his money." Catherine winked at Sara just before Sara turned her attention back to the road.

"Oh," Greg said beaming proudly, "Yeah, its going great! It's almost been three months." He then proceeded to look out the window, lost in thought about his latest girlfriend. Sara just sipped her coffee and focused on the road.

Catherine waited, wanting one of them to question her further on her observation. The real reason she had brought it up was so that she could plant the idea in Sara's head that Nick was in love with her, without being too obvious and scaring her away. Since she had been assigned the case with Sara, Catherine had been trying to think up subtle ways to bring the subject about… and when she had seen the picture in Greg's wallet she knew she had found the perfect way. She'd just talk about how when a man puts a woman's picture in his wallet that it meant he was either in love or falling in love with her and then later on she'd find a way for Nick to open his wallet in front of Sara. It was brilliant… except that no one asked her to explain her reasoning.

She decided to continue it herself, "You know what that means, don't you, Sara?" Catherine tried to grab their attention. She saw Sara glance in the mirror at her again and knew she was listening. When Greg turned slightly in his seat to listen as well, she continued, "It means that our little Greggo here is growing up… falling in love." Catherine stage-whispered the last bit conspiratorially.

"How does a picture in a wallet equal love?" Greg looked panicked.

Sara looked over at him and laughed, "I can't believe it! It's true!"

"I never said that!" Greg squeaked. It wasn't that he didn't like Angela, he was crazy about her. However, when one first comes to the realization that they're in love, it's scary and a bit overwhelming. He thought it over for a minute and recognized that it was true. _'I'm in love with Angela,'_ as Greg admitted it to himself, another large grin took over his face. Watching Greg's instantaneous revelation, Catherine's eyes danced with glee at how well this was going.

"I knew it!" she gloated in triumph.

"But how?" Sara asked, with a little too much interest for her own liking.

"Well, you see Sara," Catherine began with her very best teacher's 'I'm-so-glad-you-asked' tone, "When men put someone's picture in their wallet voluntarily it means that they cherish that person. It shows that the man thinks about that person _a lot_ and wants to always have their picture with them. And when it's not forced or expected, such as putting in a parent's photo or pictures of their children, it means that that man is either already in love or in process of falling… it's probably the biggest complement a man can pay you, especially if it's the only picture in there. It's the equivalent of putting pictures up on the fridge or on the dresser or on your desk at work -- I guess in a locker in our case -- or in a locket or something." Catherine paused for a minute to let the locker comment seep in before continuing, "In all of those examples, the photos are placed where you will see them everyday and they are at your disposal in case you need to see them for whatever reason. And that means love. It's quite the honour, and Greggo here," she vaguely motioned to the passenger seat, "only had one picture in his wallet."

"Greg?" Sara asked for confirmation. At the comment about the placement of pictures, Sara's face had paled. _'It doesn't always have to mean something,'_ she told herself stubbornly.

"It's true." He nodded emphatically, "I never really thought about it before, but she's right."

Catherine smiled nostalgically, "The first time I realized that Eddie loved me was when he asked me for a picture for his wallet. And I realized that I loved him when I thought about why I had dug an old locket out of my jewellery box to wear again." The remaining five minute drive to the crime scene was made in silence, punctuated only by the occasional slurp of a coffee. Catherine thought about the good old days with Eddie, Greg resumed his day-dreams about Angela and Sara was pensive about a certain tall, dark, handsome friend. _'Maybe she only said it because she knows that I put my picture of Nick up in my locker. Just because I want to be able to see his picture easily doesn't mean that I love him… I mean I do love him… but only as a friend. Yea, that's why he's there: he's my best friend. And I do love him. As a friend. I love him as a friend because he's my best friend.'_ Sara repeated to herself over and over again. _'First Warrick and now Catherine. Why can't anyone just accept that she and Nick are friends and nothing more?'_

Sara brushed the thoughts out of her head as she put the car in park and then hopped out, walking towards Brass purposefully. As Catherine walked along side of Greg following after Sara, her eyes danced with mischief. _'I don't think that could have gone any better,'_ she smiled satisfactorily. She enjoyed the outcome of her clever plan until she reached Brass for the briefing.


	12. The bill

"Sara! Hey! Sara!" Nick shouted as he haphazardly threw his leather jacket on. Sara was sitting in her car and about to leave the parking lot. _'Trust that the one day she decides to leave early with no persuading is when I need to talk to her,'_ Nick grumbled in his head. He waved his arms over his head in the air while shouting to her, in an attempt to attract her attention.

Just as Sara was about to back out of her parking spot she glanced up and noticed Nick jogging towards her car waving his hands in the air. She turned off the music in her car and rolled down her window as Nick approached the driver's side door. "Hey. What's up?" Sara asked when he reached her door.

"Nothing. I just wanted to know if you wanted to grab some breakfast?" he placed an elbow on the frame of the open window and leaned on it.

"Sure. Just us? Or is the rest of the gang coming too?"

"Just us," he smiled.

"You want to hop in? Or will you meet me there?"

"I'll meet you there."

"Okay," she didn't even have to ask which place he had in mind, they always went to the same diner after shift. "I'll see you in a minute." Nick didn't reply. He just removed his arms from her car to allow her to do up the window and then headed towards his own Tahoe as Sara left the parking lot.

Nick arrived at the diner a few minutes after Sara had and found her waiting for him in the night crew's regular booth. He slid into the seat across from her. "It's really getting cold out there," he said genially as he shrugged off his jacket.

"Well, yea, it's winter…" Sara laughed. "You know what you're in the mood for?" She and Nick, and the rest of the night shift, knew the menu off-by-heart and while Sara liked to stick to the tried and true breakfast of an egg-whites omelette with green pepper, buttered and toasted English muffins, and an orange juice, Nick liked to mix it up. He didn't like to order the same thing twice in a row, so any delay between arrival and placing an order was always created by him trying to think up a combination of food that he hasn't had in a while.

"I'm not sure… what did I have last time?" Nick's eyes looked off to his right at the ceiling as he tried to recall the last meal he had here.

"You had pretty much the whole left side of the menu," Sara giggled.

"Ha ha, very cute…" Nick responded dryly. Sara just smirked and raised her eyebrows. "Oh. That's right; I did... everything except for the waffles." He grinned sheepishly as his cheeks began to turn a rose colour. Just then the waitress walked up.

"Good morning guys," Marge greeted her most frequent customers. "You want your usual, Sara," the comment was really more of a statement than a question but Sara nodded her head to confirm anyway. "And for you, Nick?" Marge turned her attention to him as she scribbled down Sara's normal order.

"I'll have…" he looked thoughtful for a minute. He really wasn't that hungry. "I'll just have some waffles, hash browns and a couple of eggs sunny-side-up please."

"With apple juice?" Marge asked writing absently in her notebook.

"Oh, yes please. And that's all for now. Thanks Marge," Nick smiled at her. She nodded and walked away from the table. Nick then turned his attention back to the woman sitting across from him. "So, how was your case?"

"Pretty good, actually. It was just a robbery, and we had the guy's prints on file so it was a relatively open and shut case…. What about yours? What'd you and Warrick get?"

"Arson. Someone set fire to a fairly new, private business. Only one guy was killed, the owner." Nick winced as he thought of the charred remains. "Long story short: a disgruntled ex-employee did it," he decided to spare her the awful details.

"Well, at least we have tonight off," Sara replied, noticing Nick's wince.

"Very true. Speaking of the party…" Nick was glad that she brought it up, "Are you bringing a date tonight?" He tried to prevent the hope from creeping into his voice.

"I, uhh, well I, err…" Sara stumbled as she tried to think of a clever response. _'Damn it! I hate telling him that I can't find a date! He can always find some bimbo to hang off his arm and I can't even think of someone to ask. I hate admitting that no one wants me… well, besides Greg. But even he's got a date for tonight…'_ she thought sadly. Nick watched her face fall slightly at the question and guessed why she wouldn't just simply say that she wasn't bringing anyone.

"Because I'm not… bringing anyone, that is," Nick cut off her stuttering words, "And I was just going to ask if you wanted to car pool, seeing as I drive by your house anyway, but I don't want to intrude it you do have someb--"

"No. I don't have a date," she cut him off quickly, flushing a bit at the admission.

"Good," Nick replied smiling. Sara looked at him quizzically. "I'm not the only one now," Nick elaborated to excuse his first response. She smiled softly.

"Here you go," Marge said, appearing suddenly at their side and setting down their breakfast in front of them.

"Wow. That was quick," Nick said genuinely.

"Thanks. Just call if you need anything else," she smiled at him and walked away. The pair immediately dug into their food while it was still warm; Nick practically inhaled his. When all that was left were empty plates Nick resumed the conversation they had been having before Marge had interrupted them with the food.

"So, do you want to car pool?" Nick kept his head down as he asked her the question, concentrating on the hand stirring his apple juice rather than looking at Sara.

"Yeah. Thanks," Sara answered with little hesitation.

"Okay," Nick looked over at her and smiled shyly, "Pick you up at… six?" The party began at quarter after with cocktails and time to socialize. By seven they would serve dinner and then whenever that was finished there would be dancing… a fairly standard evening. Nick figured if they left at six they should get there between twenty after and half past so that way they wouldn't be the first to arrive.

"Perfect," she confirmed.

"And I was thinking that after, we could exchange Christmas gifts. I know that it's still five days until Christmas, but I might be going to Texas in a few days and I don't know if we'll have time after today... You know how hectic the lab gets around this time of year." Nick said euphemistically. The murder rate always picks up around the holidays.

"Might? You don't know if you're going to go yet?"

"I haven't decided. I'll probably know by tomorrow," he waved his hand around to indicate that it wasn't a big deal.

"You're kind of waiting until the last minute," Sara scolded lightly.

"I know, I just need to… check… something before I decide," he replied vaguely. "So, is it okay if we do the gifts tonight?" Marge reappeared at their table after hearing the word 'check' and placed the bill face down in the middle of the table. Sara reached for it but Nick grabbed it first and they both stood to leave.

"What makes you so sure that I got you a present?" Sara teased as they both put their jackets on.

"Well… I... we…" he tried to think of a reason that wouldn't get him in trouble. "You got them for everyone else on nightshift." He finally answered as they sauntered towards the register.

"Because they were on my list… Did you see your name on my list?" Nick thought hard and finally shook his head. "So what makes you so sure that you got one?"

"We do this every year, so I think it's safe to assume the tradition will continue," he replied smugly as he handed the bill to the cashier.

Sara shook her head. "Assume nothing, Nick… Separate the meals, please," she spoke the last part to the woman working the register.

"That won't be necessary," Nick told the lady and then turned to Sara, "I've got this. Anyway, I know that you got me a gift." The lady began punched the amount into the register.

"Is that so?" Sara continued with her game.

"I saw it," he grinned sheepishly, "After I finished the gingerbread house, while you were asleep… I found it."

"That'll be $16.34 please," the cashier said politely.

"I can't believe you, you little snoop," she punched his arm in mock outrage, "What were you doing in my hall closet?" Nick rubbed his arm laughing and then reached into his pocket for his wallet.

"I was cleaning up…" he replied as he pulled a twenty out of his wallet, "I needed to find your hand-held vacuum." As the woman accepted the money he turned his attention to her, "Keep the change, happy holidays." When Nick turned back to Sara he noticed a definite change in her demeanour. Her face was paled and she looked shocked. He laughed as he tucked his wallet into his back pocket, "Its fine Sara, I didn't see what it was. It was all wrapped." He placed his hand on the small of her back and began to steer her towards the parking lot. Sara nodded dumbly and let him guide her. When they reached the doors he stepped a head quickly so that he could open them for her. "You okay?" he asked timidly as she passed through them with a confused expression on her face. "You're not angry with me are you?"

"Huh?" she was snapped out of her train of thought, "What?"

"Are you angry?"

"No…" she replied and shook her head for emphasis. He walked with her to her Tahoe even though he passed his on the journey. When they reached her door she took out her keys and unlocked the door robotically. She was about to open the door when Nick placed his hand against the door to prevent it. She looked up at him questioningly.

"Are you feeling okay?" he placed the back of one of his hands against her forehead and studied her with concerned eyes. "You look kind of… spacey all of a sudden."

"I'm fine," she replied staring deep into his eyes as if searching for something, "I just… I'm tired, is all." Her eyes darted back and forth, focusing on both of his.

"Oh," he replied as he removed his hand from her face and knit his brows with worry. "Are you okay to drive? Because I can--"

"I'll be fine Nick," she placed a hand gently on the arm he was using to keep the car door shut. He glanced down at the unexpected contact, breaking Sara's gaze. It didn't matter; she had found what she was looking for anyway. She carefully pushed Nick's arm away from the door and climbed in.

Nick held the door for a minute as she buckled herself in. She turned to look at him and found him studying her again. _'There's something different…' _Nick thought to himself, _'ohmygod!'_ When Sara saw comprehension wash across his face she smiled at him softly, hoping to reassure him that he was not in trouble. He offered her a weak smile in return; he couldn't muster anymore in his confusion. He was worried about her, about whatever had just changed between them. _'Please,'_ Nick pleaded silently, _'Please, don't decide yet. Give me a chance.'_ They both remained there for a minute, not knowing what to say out of fear; neither wanted to say what they were thinking out loud because they were afraid that they had jumped to the wrong conclusions.

Sara cleared her throat and glanced down. "I should, uh, get going now… I'm a, a little tired."

Nick nodded. "I'll see you at six?" he suddenly felt like a bundle of nerves.

"I'll be ready," Sara verified that whatever had just happened didn't change their plans for tonight. Without another word Nick stepped forward and, making sure Sara wasn't in the way, swung the door of the Tahoe closed. Then he moved away from the car and watched as she drove away from the parking lot.

He turned around when she was out of sight and strolled back towards his vehicle. He quickly opened the door and hopped it. As Nick sat down in the seat his wallet dug uncomfortably into his ass. Frustrated already, he reached into his back pocket and tossed the wallet onto the passenger seat where it fell open, revealing the smiling face of Sara on Santa's lap. Suddenly he understood what had happened. When he paid for the breakfast, she had seen her picture in his wallet. He rested his hands on the steering wheel and rested his head on top of them. "Do all women know about the significance of wallet pictures?!" Nick grumbled into his hands. _'Wait a minute… she was working with…'_ Nick sat up straight and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He hit speed dial number three…


	13. Regis and Roses

Nick got to Sara's house ten minutes early. He sat in his car for a few minutes, coaching himself, before going to the door. _'Don't worry,'_ he told himself, _'It's just Sara.'_ He took a deep breath and raised his fist to knock on the door. Just as he was about to make contact with the wood he remembered the flowers he'd left in the Tahoe. Thankful for the delay, he jogged back to the Tahoe; he retrieved the flowers he had spent at least an hour choosing and then made his way back to her door. Once again he found himself frozen in the doorway. _'Arg!' _Nick roared internally, _'How OLD am I?!'_ He was instantly transformed back into a bumbling teenager. He felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach and stir up butterflies he thought had migrated a long time ago.

After finding out exactly what Catherine had said to Sara, the evening had taken on a new level of seriousness and importance. He had barely had any sleep, worrying over what could happen tonight. Finally Nick summoned his courage, hid the flowers behind his back, and rapped quickly on the door. Within seconds the door flew open to reveal a very dressed-up Sara Sidle. She wore a dazzling maroon dress that hugged her curves the way that every dress should and carried a small matching clutch purse. Her make-up was soft and made her glow in a way that made Nick think of an angel. Finally she had put a lot of effort into her hair style; she brought the hair in the back up into an intricate bun while leaving some strands in the front free and naturally curly to frame her face. Nick's breath caught in his throat.

"Wow," he breathed finally, "You look amazing…"

Sara blushed at his reaction, "Thanks." She then turned an appreciative eye towards him. Nick was also clad in red: he wore a maroon shirt with a silk tie which was a shade darker than the shirt -- _'Look out Regis Philbin!' _Sara thought with a smirk. The rest of his outfit comprised of a flawless, black, tailored suit and topped off with the Santa hat he had worn for their picture in the mall. Sara couldn't help but grin as she took in the sight. "You don't look so bad yourself," she said as she temporarily averted her eyes to study her shoes.

They stood in silence for a minute longer, both content to simply take in the sight of each other. "Oh," Nick cleared his throat, "These are for you." He swiftly brought a dozen long-stemmed, multicoloured roses around his body with a _swoosh_ and presented them to her, smiling bashfully.

"Nick, they're beautiful! But you really didn't have too…" she accepted the roses with a broad smile proudly displaying the gap in her front teeth.

"Oh, well, in that case," Nick lunged in a playful attempt to snatch the flowers. Sara laughed and twirled around so that the bouquet was out of his reach. "You'd better put those away before I change my mind," he said with a wink. His child-like antics had relieved the tension that had been hanging in the air.

"Thank you, Nick." With that Sara turned and made her way towards the kitchen. Nick decided to follow her. Sara had just pulled down a crystal vase from a cupboard above her fridge when Nick walked into the room. He pulled himself up to sit casually on the kitchen counter where she had placed the flowers and watched as she walked over to the sink and rinsed out the vase. Nick picked up the bouquet and studied it as she turned around and headed towards him.

"I didn't know which colour was your favourite, so I opted for symbolism over appeal. It was hard to pick out just one way that I, err, thought about you… hence all the different colours," he smiled earnestly. Sara set the container on the counter beside him and looked at him expectantly. "This one," he said pulling out dark pink rose, "means appreciation." He handed it to her carefully, so that she wouldn't prick herself on a thorn, and she set it into its new home. He continued handing them to her one by one, explaining their hidden meanings. "This white one is for your modesty. The orange is for fascination."

"You think I'm fascinating?" she looked at him in a flirty manner.

"I wouldn't have chosen it if I didn't think so," he replied focusing on the roses rather than her face. He then picked up a blue one, "This means mystery."

"Am I mysterious too?" she was still a little red from his last smooth line.

"It's what makes you fascinating," he glanced over at her quickly. "Now then, Ms. Sidle, you'll have to stop interrupting me with your _modesty_," he emphasized the word by lightly tapping the white rose from the vase, "or else we'll never get out of here. I still have eight left."

"Sorry," she giggled, "proceed."

"Right," he glanced down and selected another rose. "This mix of yellow and red is for how happy you make me. The white one here, with the red edges," he pointed out the nice blend, "means unity." He paused and pulled out two similar looking roses, "These two mean desire and admiration." He glanced over as he spoke to see her reaction: her eyes widened slightly at the bold admission but her face became a deeper shade of red, which he took as a good sign. He quickly moved on with his carefully memorized list of meanings. "The lavender one is for enchantment," he handed it to her and carefully picked up two red roses, placing both between the fingers of one hand so that the heads rested atop of his palm.

Sara looked down at his hand. "I know what the red ones mean," she spoke quietly, hoping that they could skip over the specific meaning and the inevitable awkwardness to follow.

"Do you?" he chuckled. He could see that she was nervous but there was a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. _'So she's pleased but still too afraid to admit it out loud… well, I didn't learn this stuff for nothing,'_ Nick thought to himself and decided to continue anyway, but he would quickly glaze over the more intense meanings. "Because if you look closely these two are actually different shades so they have different meanings… and I bet that you can't tell me which one means which." She looked up at him trying to suppress her grin, but remained quiet. "I didn't think so," Nick said smugly. "This one," he pointed an index finger at the lighter, richer red of the two, "is for the more traditional love and respect. While this one," he gestured to the burgundy rose, "is for unconscious beauty." He held out his hand for her to take the roses but he didn't make it easy for her. There was no way that she could grab them without brushing against his hand. He watched her intently as their hands made contact and he knew right away that she had received the same rush that he had. She placed those two roses into the vase a little more gingerly than she had the others. Nick hopped off the counter with the final rose in his hand. He absently tossed the tissue paper they had been wrapped in on the counter and waited patiently for her to face him again.

She knew that he was waiting for her to turn around but she felt as if her face was on fire. _'How does he know EXACTLY_ _what to say?'_ she cursed his suave personality and took some deep breaths. Realizing that her face was going to remain stained crimson she finally turned to face him. "And this one," he took a step forward so that there was only a few inches between them and handed her the final rose, a yellow one. "This one means the most to me. It represents friendship," she looked up into his hazel eyes for a moment before turning to empty her hands of the flower. While her back was turned he took a few steps back, which despite her nervousness she found disappointing. Nick gave a cheesy grin and decided to defuse any pressure before the party, "I almost bought a plastic version of it instead of a real one, you know so that you'd see that it'd never die, but I didn't think it'd be as classy." He winked as he gave the last line and Sara couldn't help but giggle. _'Always. He always knows exactly what to say,'_ Sara visibly relaxed and he began to back his way out of the kitchen. "Now then," he turned all business like, "we had better get going… or we'll miss cocktails." She laughed again and decided that at that moment, she would have followed him anywhere.


	14. Party time

As they walked down the final stretch of the hallway leading to the department's reserved room Nick glanced at his watch. "We have just under half an hour to mingle," he told her as they reached their destination. "Are you ready?" he cocked his elbow towards her. The only answer he received was a warm smile and her arm linked through his. He proudly led her through the doors and into the room.

"Whoa," Sara said in an incredulous voice as she took in the sight before her. The lab had gone all out this year. The large room was divided into two sections: a giant dance floor and an area covered with more than enough tables and seating to accommodate the employees associated with the LVPD and their dates. The place was lavishly decorated with Christmas paraphernalia; each table was adorned with fancy silverware, Santa napkins, and had Poinsettias as centerpieces and each corner of the room had a pine tree covered with classy gold, silver, and blue ornaments. Any other available surfaces received garlands or wreaths and mistletoe hung from random points around the room. The lighting was dimmed to create a more intimate atmosphere and soft seasonal music floated from a DJ that had set himself at the head of the dance floor.

Currently the area by the bar, off the right hand side of the dance floor, was the most popular and hosted seventy percent of the people who had already arrived. Sara and Nick started to migrate towards the crowd but they found Greg and his date along the journey and stopped to socialize with them.

"Nick! Sara! I'd like to introduce you to Angela," he indicated to the pretty blond woman on his arm with a proud, sweeping gesture. "Angela, this is Nick and Sara…" it was only as he finished his introduction that he noticed that Sara was holding on to Nick's arm, and although it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for the two of them to sling arms around each other there was something almost possessive about the way she was clutching onto him that sparked his interest.

"Hey," Sara greeted enthusiastically, "It's nice to meet you. You know, Greg talks about you so often that I--"

"Are you two together?" Greg interrupted the pleasantries.

"Huh?" Sara responded to the unexpected question, "Oh, yea. We carpooled." She made an effort to keep her tone casual and was especially proud that she had responded without stumbling over her explanation. _'Is this a date?'_ Sara second guessed herself, _'He never officially said it was… but it sure feels like one.'_ She tried to recap what had happened so far in order to determine whether it was a date, _'Nick showed up early and he seemed uncharacteristically jittery… I spent a good two hours getting ready, which is unheard of for me… there was an awkward exchange of compliments and I'm hanging off his arm. And then there are the roses…'_ Sara smiled softly to herself as she remembered his flower speech. _'I think it is a date,'_ Sara thought incredulously. Then unbidden doubt took control of her thoughts, _'…but I'm not going to be the one to say it…God, I hope it's a date.'_

"Oh," Greg nodded slowly, "So… it's not a--?"

"Hey, there you guys are," Warrick slid into the group with a woman who could have passed for Halle Berry. Sara wasn't sure whether she wanted to kiss or kill Warrick for his timing; had Nick fielded the question then she might know his intentions… but if he didn't, Warrick might have just saved her from potential embarrassment. "I'd like you to meet Emily. Emily, this is Nick, Sara…" he trailed off as he noted their body language. He shot Nick a suspicious glance. Sara kicked herself mentally for not removing herself from his arm the minute it had tipped Greg off. It took a lot of effort to remain there so that the other couples wouldn't be clued into the awkwardness of the situation.

"…and Greg and his lovely date Angela," Nick gestured to the other pair that Warrick had forgotten, in hopes of diverting the attention away from Sara and himself.

"We already met," Angela informed Nick politely.

"Yea, we've been here since twenty after," Greg added and glanced at the surroundings, "They did a great job decorating this year."

"I would expect nothing less from Catherine," Sara smiled.

Greg looked surprised, "Why was Catherine in charge of decorating?"

"Ecklie gave the job to Grissom just to piss him off, and then Grissom made some deal with Catherine so that she would do it instead…" Nick supplied and then glanced over at Sara, "I'm going to go get some drinks; you want any?"

"Uh, sure. Thanks," she replied and extracted herself from his arm, surprisingly disappointed that she'd have to let go.

"Any one else?" Nick quickly surveyed the rest of the group

"Yea, I'll go with you," Warrick took the empty glass that his date held out to him. Greg and Angela politely declined and the two men left the group in search of drinks. "So…" Warrick dragged out trying to find the best way to phrase his question, "You came with Sara tonight?"

Nick chuckled and dropped his chin to his chest finding new interest in the floor. "You couldn't even wait until we had reached the bar?" Warrick looked unimpressed with his response, "Fine. Yes. I came here with Sara." Nick watched as Warrick replaced his suspicious expression with a smug one, "I never said it was a date." Nick amended in a tone mixed with amusement and anxiety.

"Is it a date?" Warrick responded without missing a beat.

Nick sighed heavily. "I-- I'm not sure," he concluded crestfallen. "I sure want it to be." They weaved their way delicately through their co-workers and reached the bar. Warrick ordered a beer for himself and a Bloody Mary for his date. Nick simply asked for two glasses of pop for Sara and himself; he was mindful of the fact that she was trying to wean herself off alcohol since her near arrest a few months back and figured since they'd no doubt be drinking wine with their dinner it would be best if she didn't have anything else.

"Well what did you say to get her to come with you?" Warrick asked as soon as they had made it clear of the crowds so no one could eavesdrop.

"What do you mean?"

"How did you word it? The invite... What did you say to get her to come with you?" Warrick clarified as they stopped a few feet away from Greg and the ladies.

"I asked if she wanted to car pool."

"Nick, Nick, Nick… what happened to you, man? You used to be so smooth with the ladies--"

"Hey!" Nick snorted indignantly, "I can still hold my own in a singles bar…"

"Oh really?" Warrick chuckled and raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Really. I've got the Midas touch! You don't just lose that!" he defended.

"You may still have it but the only thing you still touch is… well, let's not get into that," Warrick shuttered involuntarily. "Why don't you just prove it? Talk to Sara, show me what you got, Gold member." And with that, Warrick strode quickly back to his date.

'_If only I could win her over so easily,'_ Nick sighed to himself,_ 'If only my mouth and my mind would co-operate when she's around…' _Nick went the rest of the way to the group. "Here you are milady," he handed one of the Cokes over to Sara giving her a big cheesy smile. He stood slightly behind her and made sure that their arms were touching. She took a drink of her pop to hide her smile at his obvious plea for contact. "Hey, how long are y'all going to stay for?" Nick glanced at Greg, Warrick and their dates.

"Oh, not too late," Greg grinned and winked at Angela, "I have something else planned for later on tonight." Angela blushed and everyone else laughed at the poor girl's embarrassment.

"I don't think we'll be here too long either," Emily threw out, "I've got a business meeting tomorrow morning."

"What about you two?" Warrick asked looking at Sara.

She shrugged nonchalantly, casting a sideways glance at Nick. "I guess whenever we get bored… but with you four gone early, I don't imagine us staying all night either. Besides we kind of have plans for afterwards too."

"So it is a d--" Greg started again but was interrupted by a booming voice.

"Alright folks, thank you all for coming. And if you'd just like to find yourselves a table and take a seat, dinner's about to be served," Catherine announced into the DJ's microphone. Then she turned and headed towards the tables on the opposite end of the room. Everyone else began to follow her lead. Nick glanced down at his wristwatch; sure enough it was five to seven.

"Where do you guys want to sit?" Nick asked quickly, before Greg could resume his line of questioning.

"Well it looks like Griss and Catherine are over there…" Warrick pointed to a table where their boss was already seated and Catherine was headed towards, "Want to just join them?" The rest murmured their agreement and headed towards table 14.

"Evenin' guys," Nick grinned as the younger crowd walked up to the table, "mind if we join you?" He didn't really wait for an answer, instead he pulled out a chair two seats away from Catherine and motioned for Sara to sit there, then he plopped himself in between his two co-workers. The other men took his lead and held the chairs out for their own dates. At eight people, the table was full.

"Love the hat, Nicky," Catherine winked at him and playfully smacked the pompom at the end of his Santa cap.

"Why, thank you Catherine!" he grinned enthusiastically, "I'm glad someone finally mentioned it. It was a very hard decision to make… but I thought it matched my shirt well enough."

"Catherine, everything looks so lovely tonight," Emily spoke up. Catherine thanked her politely.

"Yea, Griss, what'd it cost you to get her to do it?" Warrick turned to the older man sitting between Catherine and Greg.

"She said I can't tell anyone, it's a surprise for later," Grissom grumbled, obviously unimpressed with whatever terms he had agreed to. Catherine smirked.

"You'll all love it," Catherine promised.

"Oh, sounds interesting…" various degrees of joy and amusement danced across Greg's face as he tried to imagine whatever wicked thing Catherine had roped Grissom into doing. The possibilities were endless.

"I wish I had brought my camera," Nick teased.

"Don't worry about that. There's a photographer around here that will be snapping candid photos, I'll make sure he doesn't miss anything exciting." Catherine grinned mischievously. They all continued making pleasant conversation, devoid of work and coloured with occasional good-natured teasing, as the waiters arrived and place the first course in front of each them.

* * *

A/N: Evenin' all. I'm terribly sorry for taking so long with this; my goal was for this to be done just after Christmas... obviously, I'm a little off. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks forthe great response and for your patience and sticking with it despite the bad timing. I know this chapter was just some random filler and overall fairly useless but I didn't want to just breeze through the evening. Anyway, I promise that I'll be done in two more chapters, one for the remainder of the party andthe final one to reveal Nick's gift for Sara. Thanks again. ---SAEO 


	15. After dinner

As the final course (dessert) drew to a close, Nick and Sara remained blissfully oblivious to the amused glances being exchanged around them. Warrick in particular watched with interest as the pair demonstrated just how in sync they were with each other. As Sara worked her way through her dessert Nick would periodically snake his arm by her in order to steal food from her plate-- but this wasn't done to annoy her. Far from it, Nick was picking out the fruit that was interspersed throughout her plate which he knew she didn't like. This was done to save her the trouble of eating around them, and in return she did the same for his undesirable food. 

However, that wasn't the fascinating part; what truly demonstrated their link was that they didn't need to co-ordinate the effort, they just didn't it naturally. They worked perfectly around each other, never disrupting the other's eating. It was as if their movements were rehearsed, knowing exactly which items should be removed and when. And even more impressive was the fact that they didn't seem to notice that they were doing it: their only obvious effort was to stay involved in the conversation around the table. Warrick also noted that over the course of the dinner the two had continually drifted closer together.

"That was delicious," Nick smiled broadly as he finished his dessert. He sat back in his chair and threw the napkin from his lap onto the table to demonstrate that he was finished with his meal. "I couldn't eat another bite!"

"Yeah, I think I'm done too," Sara replied pushing her plate away from her and leaning forward with her elbows on the table. Nick groaned slightly as he eyed the remnants on her plate. He draped an arm casually around the back of Sara's chair and leaned forward and scraped some icing off of a piece of her untouched cake. He brought the rich frosting to his mouth.

"Mmmm," he moaned and reached forward again to pick at her abandoned food with his fingers.

"I thought that you were finished," Sara smirked as he brought some more icing towards his lips.

"I was…" he bent forwards and took one more quick finger of icing, "but I can't very well sit idly by watching this wonderful dessert go to waste." He popped the finger in his mouth to remove the frosting. "Sara Sidle, I'm ashamed of you. Don't you know that there are kids starving on the other side of the world? Now you make sure the rest of that cake is enjoyed or I will." He shifted to sit back in his chair again, not bothering to remove his arm from its spot on her chair.

Sara complied and pulled the plate closer to her, she took a finger of frosting and sat back, leaning against his arm. A slow, sly smile crept across her face as she turned her head to face his. He quirked an eyebrow, pondering the reason for the grin but found out soon enough as she wiped her finger down the bridge of his nose. The rest of the table hooted with laughter. "You're right, cake is supposed to be enjoyed… and I really enjoyed that," she giggled. Nick attempted an angry glare as he rubbed the icing off his face but he failed miserably. He reached for her plate and picked up the rest of the cake and slowly brought it towards her face as the others watched with baited breaths. She tried to squirm away from him, but since they had migrated so close together their chair legs were tangled to she could push away and the arm he had rested on the back of her chair was now around her shoulders and gripping one of her hands to prevent her body from moving. "I'm sorry, Nick!" she yelped still laughing. He zoomed the cake within an inch of her face and then arched it back towards himself and stuck the dessert in his mouth, grinning delightedly.

"So ya dun haff any mo' ammo," Nick spoke around his food. He relaxed his grip, releasing her hand, but kept the arm around her shoulder, which she didn't fight. Nick turned his attention back to the table abroad with a goofy grin.

"Okay, children, what have I told you about playing with your food?" Catherine mock scolded. Nick swallowed what was left in his mouth.

"Don't do it in front of your co-workers," Greg and Nick recited solemnly, "'cause it's hard to respect you when you have pieces of corn in your hair." Two weeks ago Catherine had walked into the break room to find the young men in the middle of a food fight; they had been flinging peas and corn from Nick's microwave dinner at each other.

"Close enough," Grissom responded, "Icing has the same results."

Sara reached over and brushed away some crumbs and frosting which had found its way to Nick's face during his rehearsed answer. He felt a shiver work its way down his spine as her fingers brushed against his lower lip. Their eyes met in recognition of the reaction and for a minute neither moved, Sara's hand still resting part on his cheek and slowly tracing the edge of his mouth. Nick's eyes flickered towards her lips and instinctively licked his own in anticipation. Sara was just about to initiate a rising motion to connect their lips when a cough came from the opposite side of the table, and instantly Sara became all too aware of her surroundings and the seven pairs of eyes, including Nick's, eagerly waiting her reaction. She blushed furiously and withdrew her hand. She diverted her eyes away from the onlookers and began fiddling nervously with the napkin that had been on the table in front of her. Nick cleared his throat to draw the attention to himself instead of Sara and turned menacingly towards Greg, since he had been the one to cough. "Robitussin," he said with a smile plastered in place, but the look in his eyes and his voice had a sharp edge that couldn't be masked. That seemed to break the tension, at least for the moment, as the others laughed in appreciation of his quick recovery.

They all chatted amicably for another thirty minutes while waiting for the waiters to clear off the empty plates from all the tables. The conversation carefully avoided the awkward moment that everyone had witnessed between the two 'friends'; Nick's glare was enough to silence any curiosity for the moment. "So Grissom, when do we get to see this surprise?" Greg asked as he glanced at his watch. "I don't think that Angela and I will be staying much longer…" he trailed off shooting a wink at his girlfriend.

"Are you serious? It's only quarter past nine!" Catherine sounded outraged.

"Sorry Cath, you did a great job and all… but there are some activities that I'd like to do tonight that I highly doubt are on your itinerary."

"That's no way to speak in front of ladies, Greggo." Nick chided lightly.

"That's as euphemistic as I get, but no worries man. She doesn't embarrass as easily your d--" he started to gesture towards Sara but stopped short when he caught Nick's look, "…your-- your average woman." He smoothed over with a dashing smile and Nick nodded approvingly.

"Don't worry Greg," Catherine responded to his initial inquiry, "He'll do it soon enough. Stick around for 'til about ten. I'm sure that whatever you have planned won't take too long anyway… you'll have plenty of time."

"Don't I get a say in this? What if I want to wait until twelve thirty?" Grissom spoke up indignantly.

"Gil, we only have the room booked until midnight." Catherine replied shortly.

"I know," Grissom quipped, receiving a snicker from Angela and a frown from Catherine.

"Come on, Griss. It can't be that bad…" Sara's tone implied he was overreacting. Grissom's only response was a disgruntled snort. Catherine laughed and excused herself from the table. She strode over to the other side of the room and spoke quickly with the DJ and the music stopped playing. He handed her the microphone and she tapped on the head of it to make sure it was turned on.

"Hello?" her voice boomed around the room and everyone stopped talking and turned towards her, "Hi, okay. First off, let's have a big round of applause for the servers and that delicious feast." She paused to allow the room to show their appreciation in the form of clapping and cheering. "Okay, okay, that's enough" she laughed after a minute, getting tired of waiting for the hooting to subside, "Now if we're all finished, it's time to move on. We have this place booked until midnight, and you are free to leave whenever you'd like… but I highly recommend you wait until at least ten," she looked pointedly at Grissom with a smirk. "So since we've eaten to our heart's content, I think it's about time that we get moving. Let's get it started," she motioned to the DJ and after a beat the Black-eyed Peas' song started echoing Catherine's parting words. She moved gracefully back towards their table as the younger crowd in the room ambled towards the dance floor.

"What are they doing?" Grissom asked perplexed as the crowds outlined the floor rather then actually stepped on it.

Nick laughed, "They're all afraid to be the first one out there."

"These people face murderers all day long without flinching… and they're afraid to dance?" Emily laughed, facing Grissom.

"Don't look at me," Grissom raised his hands in forfeit, "I've never understood the inner workings of the human mind. I'm a bug-man." His crewmembers all nodded their agreement.

Emily looked over at the awkward couples milling around the perimeter of the dance floor, "They're ridiculous."

"75 of Americans list public speaking their number one fear, even more so than the fear of death… so ridiculous but not unexpected," Sara provided.

"C'mon babe," Warrick grabbed Emily's hand and pulled her up from the table, "Let's show these children how it's done." He confidently strode through the crowd and on to the floor with his date in tow. Once the two of them were out there the rest of the milling couples quickly followed.

"I want to dance too," Angela stood up and offered her hand to Greg.

"As you wish," he pushed his chair back, got up and followed the path Warrick had taken. Sara glanced uneasily over at Nick, afraid that he would want to dance as well.

He was watching Greg and Angela dancing with a smile on his face, "Hey Sara," he glanced over at her and caught her deer-in-headlights expression. He chuckled softly, "Don't worry I wasn't going to ask you to dance; I know which percent of the population you fall under." She let out an embarrassed laugh of her own. "I was just going to ask if you wanted another drink."

"Oh. Yes, please." She smiled softly at him and handed him her empty glass. He accepted it and stood up. He had taken two steps before he turned around and walked back beside her and leaned over next to her ear.

"But just so you know, I am planning on asking you to dance to the first slow song that pops up… and I won't take no for an answer," then he spun on his heel and Sara watched him saunter over towards the bar. She felt goose bumps cover her skin as a result of his breathy whisper, and for the first time in her life, she found herself excited about dancing. When she turned back to the table she was greeting with Catherine's knowing smirk. Sara blushed and scrambled for something irrelevant to say.

"So now that it's just us… can you tell me what the surprise is?"

"If we told you it wouldn't be a surprise." Catherine countered.

"I've never been a big fan of surprises," Sara waved away the argument.

"Me either. Let's call this whole deal off…" Grissom jumped in. The two ladies ignored him.

"You're not really a big fan of anything," Catherine teased lightly, "I can only think of one thing that you _are_ a fan of…" Catherine darted her eyes in the direction of the bar so that Sara picked up her point.

"What's the surprise?" Sara asked again.

"Are you his fan?" Sara looked uncomfortable.

"Who's fan?" The conversation went right over Grissom's head.

"C'mon. What's the deal with Grissom?" she tried again.

"What's the deal with Nick?" Catherine persisted.

"Nick? Oh, okay. I get it now." Grissom's comment once again went ignored.

"Catherine."

"Sara."

"What's the surprise?"

"Quid pro quo."

"The questions are hardly a fair trade off," Sara grumbled. "You know what, forget it! I don't care anymore!" She felt backed into a corner and reacted rather harshly. More than anything she just wanted to push over the table and make a run for the doors, but instead Sara turned around in her chair and watched the couples on the other side of the room dance. As she watched her mind drifted to Catherine's question, _'I've already decided that I'm a fan of the Nick Stokes fan club… why can't I just say it out loud?_' As her conscious was enveloped by swirling thoughts about her own feelings and insecurities, her mind dulled her other senses so that she could concentrate. Soon all the couples on the dance floor were out of focus and she could scarcely hear the music at all over the commotion in her head.

* * *

A/N: I went a bit long while writing the party stuff andI did end up dividing it into two chaptersto make itlook a littleless intimidating. So after the next chapter there is going to be one more which I haven't posted yet. Terribly sorry for promising only two chapters last time... thanks for your patience. 


	16. Dancing

It was the clunk of her drink hitting the table that finally shook her from her reverie. She was startled to find Nick had returned so quickly, and she turned around to have a sip of her pop because she felt as if the room had doubled in temperature in the last five minutes. She was even more startled when he grabbed her hand half-way to its destination. She looked up at him and her face must have conveyed her silent question.

"I told you: I have dibs on the first slow dance," he smiled, tugging gently on her hand to get her to rise. As Sara's other senses returned, she became aware of a soft, sweet melody playing out of the speakers. In a trance-like state, she stood up from her chair, barely noticing that at some point Catherine and Grissom had disappeared from their table. Nick entwined their fingers and pulled her to an empty spot on the dance floor, a few feet away from Warrick.

"Sorry I took so long with the drinks…" Nick spoke softly as he pulled her into a formal dance position. The weight of his hand on the small of her back and the feel of his muscular bicep under her fingers shouldn't have felt so exhilarating to her, as they had danced together and snuggled together in the past few years more times than she could count… but knowing that fact didn't do anything to prevent her body from receiving the rush of adrenalin from the familiar contact. She felt her temperature rise and worried that her palms were getting clammy.

"You didn't take long. You practically sprinted," Sara replied confused.

"Wow, you really were out of it." Nick chuckled as they swayed to what Sara now recognized as Norah Jones's Nearness of You.

"Out of it?" she repeated dumbly, looking up at his face.

"Yea, when I came back to the table you were an astronaut. And apparently you didn't notice that I was gone for at least ten or fifteen minutes, which I must say does hurt the ego a little. Were you in space?"

"You were not gone for fifteen minutes…" her tone indicated disbelief.

"Yea," he quickly re-evaluated his logic, "there were about four song changes… that is about ten or fifteen minutes isn't it? Well, in any case, I was ambushed by Brass, who was apparently in interrogation mode." Nick shifted his grip on Sara's hand. They had been in the traditional stance with Sara's fingers resting in between Nick's thumb and index fingers. Now Nick switched his position so that instead of palm-to-palm, Nick's hand was resting on the back of hers as he pulled it to rest on his chest. Nick's large, warm hand enveloped hers and he caressed the back of it with his thumb. Sara welcomed the change with a smile; now, instead of worrying that he would be able to sense her nervousness through her sweaty hands, she could feel his nervousness from the quickened heartbeat under her fingers. Being able to feel her effect on him put her slightly more at ease.

"See, he chooses work over play too!" she smiled triumphantly against his insinuation a week ago that she was the only one who would.

"I never said he was asking about work," he spoke mysteriously.

"Well then, what was the interrogation about?"

"You." He replied simply. She responded with a surprised 'hmm' and he decided to elaborate. "He wanted to know if we were dating and what my intentions were, etc, etc. He got all fatherly and protective of you." Sara smiled at the comparison. She had never really had anyone get 'all fatherly' for her, and she liked the idea of Brass filling that role. She turned her head and scanned the room in search of the detective.

"What did you tell him?" she spotted him sitting at a table watching Nick and her. She smiled at him fondly and waved her hand that was resting on Nick's arm.

"Well, that's when I heard Norah start to sing," he kept his hand placed firmly over hers but twirled his index finger in a circle to indicate to the room in general, "and so I told him I'd get back to him… I had to see a lady about a dance." His heart had picked up the pace a little more as he made this admission. She glanced up at him and found him smiling shyly down at her, studying her reaction. Sara's cheeks deepened in colour and she grinned self-consciously before turning her face away from his and scanning the people circling around them. She saw Warrick dancing with Emily a few feet away, watching her and Nick dance with a knowing smile. He held her eye for a minute and gave her a wink before turning his attention back to the woman in his arms. Sara took a step closer to Nick, almost imperceptible to anyone else, but very noticeable to him. She placed her face along side his and nuzzled his cheek affectionately, but neither spoke.

As the song began to end both partners grasped the other a little bit tighter, silently praying for a way to prolong the moment. Sara dipped her head into the crook of his neck and breathed in his scent. Nick turned his head slightly and rested his lips on the back of her head, kissing softly and savouring the smell of her hair. "One more," Sara whispered against his neck, sending a jolt of electricity through his body. Then, as if the DJ could hear her, the song blended into A Moment Like This.

Nick let out a sigh and laughed softly, "God bless Kelly Clarkson."

"Mmmm," Sara murmured her agreement into his skin. She began to sing along quietly with the song and Nick couldn't imagine anything that could make this moment better. He wrapped his arm further around her waist and listened contently to her voice.

Once again time was against them, and sooner than either would have liked, this song too drew to an end. They slowly parted and looked intently at each other as the speakers launched into a more seasonal song which neither bothered to pay attention to. "I think maybe we should talk for a minute," Sara said tentatively. Nick nodded his agreement and once again laced their fingers but he let Sara lead them to a new spot. She angled them towards the doors and out into the hallway where they sat on a large, plush, strategically placed couch. She cleared her throat and started before Nick got a chance, "So it appears that we've had time on our side tonight." She was met with a bemused expression. "I mean, whenever we get put in the hot seat something seems to come along and save us," she explained.

"Father Time and I had a little chat before I picked you up… I don't think he'll be getting in the way tonight," he replied evasively. Sara tried to smother the smile playing at her lips.

"Good to know," she replied before adopting a more sombre tone. "However, I would like to know the answers…" she trailed off uncertainly, looking at her hands.

"What would you like to hear?" He too averted his gaze.

"The answers to the interrogation," the response was barely audible.

"Well… I-- If you-- wanted—I--" Nick stumbled nervously.

"Do you have everything?" A familiar voice rang out from down the hall, "Hat? Bag?" Sara and Nick looked up to see Catherine leading Santa towards the rented room. _'Thank you!'_ Nick sighed in relief, _'My speech wouldn't have been as nearly as effective without the gift… assuming I would have stopped floundering and gotten to my speech.'_

Nick beamed at Sara, "Father Time, Father Christmas, whatever works…" Sara rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the odd pair strolling in their direction. Santa appeared to be having trouble walking in his big leather boots and kept tripping and using language unbecoming of such a noble character.

"Ohmygod!" Sara exclaimed suddenly and clasped a hand over her mouth. This got the attention of the two approaching them; Catherine's face was split in two with an evil smile. As they got closer Nick noticed something familiar about Santa…

"Grissom?!" Nick gasped.

"Don't say a word," he grumbled as he hoisted the sack up on his shoulders.

"Brilliant Catherine!" Sara exclaimed as Nick broke into laughter.

"Thank you!" she glowed, "May I suggest you two join us inside for this?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Sara turned looked over her supervisor with amusement. The hat was a little too large for him and sat lopsided on his head, sometimes drooping over his eyes. The bright red obnoxious suit was stuffed with pillows to create the jolly belly and a large black belt and obviously oversized boots were the only items that weren't furry. He was carrying a large brown sack with him which were filled with presents which Sara assumed were for the door prizes. His salt-and-peppered beard was perfect for the part, and even his glasses appeared to be designed the ensemble. "Oh Grissom," Sara dropped her voice in disbelief as she scanned his face, "Are you wearing blush?"

"Yes, he is!" Catherine jumped in proudly, "And I didn't even suggest it; he did it himself." Nick doubled over in his seat, tears forming in his eyes. "I'll be right back, you two keep an eye on him," Catherine called as she slipped back into the room.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing well." Nick snorted with mirth at Grissom's argument. "Well, I've gone this far already, so why not?"

"Pride, man!" Nick choked out as they were joined in the hall by an unfamiliar man who had been the photographer of the evening. He immediately started snapping photos of Grissom in the Santa suit.

"In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes." Grissom quoted.

"Who said that?" inquired Sara.

"John Ruskin," Grissom supplied.

"I don't think he applies to this particular circumstance," Nick lost control of his giggles again and the photographer turned and took some photos of him just as Catherine returned to the hall.

"Okay, you ready?" she smirked at Grissom.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he responded faithfully.

"Colin," Catherine turned to the photographer, "Go on in ahead of us for some shots of peoples reactions." The man nodded and headed through the doors. As the doors open the four heard a new song start over the speakers: Santa Baby. "That's our cue," Catherine smiled. Sara helped Nick up and steadied him as they walked towards the doors since he was laughing too hard to walk independently.

Grissom sighed loudly, adjusted the cap on his head, slung the sack into a better position on his shoulder, and walked gallantly burst through the doors and into a waiting spot light. "Ho, ho, ho!" he bellowed over the applause and cheers coming from everyone else in the room.


	17. Hello Cowboy

A/N: Once again I rambled longer than expected so I divided the endinginto two chapters, though I only intended to make it one. Anyway, here are the final two installments. Thank you for your patience and reviews. I hope you like the story.

* * *

"Yea, we're just about to leave now," Sara whispered conspiratorially into her cell phone. "Hmm... he's just saying his goodbyes…. No, my place… yeah, so I was thinking the bedroom would be best…"

Nick cleared his throat as he approached from behind, "Why Sara Sidle, you had better not let Brass hear you talking like that." His eyebrow was raised in amusement.

"Good God, Nick!" She whirled around clutching her heart and nearly dropped the phone, "You scared the hell out of me!" He walked towards her with a proud smirk on his face; she couldn't decide if it was because he had scared her or overheard her say something about going to the bedroom.

Sara turned bright red at the prospect of the latter and quickly finished up her phone conversation. "No, apparently he's decided to give up forensics and become a spy," she growled into the cell with a glare in his direction. "So do you know where…" she trailed off, "Great. Okay, thanks. I'll talk to you later and let you know." Sara smiled as she spoke her farewell and then flipped her phone shut. Then she held it out in front of her, pointing it accusingly at the still smiling Nick Stokes, "You, sir, need to learn some etiquette. It's considered bad-mannered to sneak up on people, you know."

He held up his hands in mock surrender, "I can't help it, all that stealth training that they gave me at the spy academy seems second nature to me now." He laughed at her scowl, "So what were saying about the bedroom?" his eyebrows danced suggestively.

"Eavesdropping isn't high on the refined scale either," she avoided his question and his eyes as she felt the blood rushing to her cheeks and heating her face. _'Has there been a five minute window at all tonight where I was my normal colour?'_ she groused in her mind. "Are you ready to go?"

He smiled slyly at her evasion but let it go, "Yup. Ready when you are." He took her coat from out of her arms and helped her slide it on before they went outside. They were actually the first of the night shift to leave the party; they had only rejoined it temporarily to enjoy some of Grissom's public humiliation.

Greg and Warrick gave them both pointed looks and suggestive winks as they bid them adieu but wisely withheld their comments. Catherine and Grissom were surrounded by a large excited crowd cooing over Grissom's newest outfit and so had been unapproachable. Instead Nick just bellowed Catherine's name and he and Sara waved and pointed to the door to signal their departure. Catherine spoke quietly to Grissom and then they both smiled happily and waved in return. The only one who held them, more specifically Nick, up was Brass. That was who Nick had been 'saying goodbye' to when Sara had snuck out into the hall to make her phone call.

"So what'd Brass want to talk to you about?" Sara inquired innocently.

"Same thing you were talking to your friend about," Nick blushed and pointed to her phone. It took Sara a minute to figure out what he was talking about and he waited until her cheeks flared up in understanding before continuing, "He was just reminding me that he knew where I lived and that he almost knows almost as much as we do about hiding the evidence…" Nick's face clearly showed his trepidation at Brass' unsubtle warning and Sara could help but giggle. "Ha ha ha," his tone dripped with sarcasm but his face betrayed him by revealing his amusement through a wide grin. _'God, she's absolutely ravishing,'_ he felt his heart constrict as he watched her doubling over with delight. _'And that laugh… it's-- it's--'_ he searched for the appropriate word but gave up fairly quickly with the realization that no word could ever accurately describe how much he loved that sound.

They were already three minutes along into their drive by the time Sara had tamed her giggles. "All finished now?" Nick asked a little too sweetly.

"Sorry… but you- you should have seen your face," Sara spoke quickly, fighting hard to maintain her composure as she recalled the panicked look once more. Nick pretended to pout. "Okay, I'm done," a smile twitched on her lips.

They remained relatively silent for most of the ride, listening to one of the 'All Christmas' stations. As they neared her apartment, their anxiety grew and both seemed to have lost the ability to hold a conversation. _'Whatever happens tonight could change everything…'_ Sara chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. _'I really hope he doesn't think that I'm going to sleep with him; I should have explained what he actually overheard. But then that would have ruined the surprise… Damn it! I should say something.'_ Sara opened her mouth to defuse any misconceptions about her intentions tonight but she couldn't find a way to word it and quickly closed it again. _'What if I'm completely over re-acting? I don't even know if he even considers this a date! I'm just being stupid; Nick knows me well enough to know that I wouldn't do that… I hope…'_ Sara thoughts were scattered as her apartment came into view. She looked at the time, _'Damn, we got here too fast!' _Her mind whirled to come up with a way to postpone going inside just yet.

"Hey, Nick…" she spoke tentatively.

"Hmm?" he jumped nervously at the sudden sound and glanced over at her.

"Could we, err, stop somewhere first? I, uh, oh! We need some egg-nog! I drank the last of it yesterday," she silently congratulated herself on what she figured was a reasonable request. However, Nick's sceptical glance made her doubt her logic.

"Egg-nog? Why do we need egg-nog?"

"Because. Umm, well I don't have a lot to eat at home… and you are the insatiable Nicholas Stokes I was going to offer up the gingerbread house that we," Nick coughed, "…okay, **you**," she stressed and he nodded approvingly, "made the other week as a sacrifice."

"Alright…" he clearly wasn't following her way of thinking but he obediently drove past her apartment in search of a grocery store.

"Well, everyone knows you can't have gingerbread without egg-nog," she concluded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "They unquestionably belong together," she insisted at his amused expression, "like bread and butter… or fish and chips…or…"

"Milk and cookies," he supplied. He spotted the grocery store just down the street.

"Right. Or… beer and peanuts." She responded smiling, "Let's see what else?"

"Uh… chips and dip," he was starting to like this game.

"Peanut butter and jelly."

"Mulder and Scully."

"Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks," he looked quizzical and she clarified "In Sleepless in Seattle... I guess You've Got Mail would work too…"

"Ah," he nodded, "Umm, Han Solo and Princess Leia."

"Romeo and Juliet," she replied quickly getting into the competition.

"Beckham and Posh Spice," he grinned dumbly.

"Grissom and bugs," Sara began laughing.

"You and me," Nick added absently as he pulled into the store's parking lot.

"Lois Lane an--" she fell silent as what he said had finally sunk in.

"Clark Kent?" he offered as he parked and turned off the engine. He turned to face her and noticed her paled face. "What?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice. Suddenly a horrified expression chased the concern away from his features. His eyebrows knit together, he squeezed his eyes shut, and let out a deep breath as he realized his mistake.

"Nic--" Sara finally found her voice but Nick cut her off with a hand in the air.

"Wait. Just hang on to that particular thought until we get to your place, okay? Stay here, listen to the radio, I'll just pop into the store and grab some egg-nog and then we can head over alright?" He didn't actually wait for her answer, he just stuck the keys back in the ignition with a small turn so that the radio popped on and then he hopped out the door and started jogging towards the entrance to the store.

Sara sat there dumbstruck for a minute before a smile stole across her face. She pulled out her cell phone and hit re-dial. It picked up on the second ring, "Hey, it's me. We're just at the grocery store. Are you done?" she asked the voice on the other end. "Okay, well we'll be there in about five minutes. Will you be out by then? Great. Thank you so much! Bye Mel, I owe you one."

Sara snapped her phone shut and leaned back in her seat waiting for Nick to return. He was true to his word and only popped in and out, reappearing before NSYNCs rendition of Silent Night had a chance to trill to an end. He entered the Tahoe silently and before she knew it, they were outside her apartment. The air between them was thick with anticipation and nerves. It wasn't a loaded tension, they weren't awkward or uncomfortable. However, they were fairly quiet as they each gathered their thoughts and tried to figure out what to say to each other.

Sara quickly unlocked the door and turned on the main light, walking in cautiously. "Living room?" she ventured as she kicked off her shoes and walked into the kitchen to grab some glasses for the egg-nog. He nodded, shut the front door, kicked off his shoes, and headed towards her large couch. He carefully carried a large, flat, wrapped object in his arms that he had retrieved from the back of the Tahoe before they came up. He placed it on the floor under the coffee table and made himself at home on the couch.

"I think maybe I should give you mine first, otherwise the surprise may be ruined…" Sara spoke as she set two empty glasses and the unopened egg-nog on the table. "Could you just pour that while I get your gift?" she smiled sweetly and left the room. Nick obeyed and when she returned she was carrying a very familiar present.

"It's not anything breakable is it?" he asked as she handed him the gift.

"No," she smiled as he began to shake it gently to listen to the contents. She sat down right beside him and watched with fascination. A smile spread across his handsome face as he became intrigued by the combination of sounds: a crinkling sound, rattling sound, thudding sound… She felt a smile grace her own face as she watched him dawn a thoughtful expression imagining the items inside the mystery box. "Would you just open it already? If you don't hurry you'll ruin the surprise," she pretended to be annoyed but her voice only displayed her affection. His curiosity and child-like behaviour was very endearing. She gave a furtive glance towards the bedroom and prayed for a few more minutes without interruption so that she could really draw out the surprise.

"Party pooper," he mock pouted as he began to rip off the wrapping paper to reveal a fair-sized plain white box. Nick set the box on the table in front of him, took off the lid and removed the first item with some confusion. "Newspapers?" he quirked an eyebrow as he looked at the dates on the bundle of papers. The farthest back that they went was three weeks ago.

"It's a sort of theme… keep going…" she encouraged cryptically

He shrugged and reached in for the next piece and laughed, "Mixed nuts?" Sara nodded her head enthusiastically, fully enjoying his confusion. "Okaaay," he set the large bag of nuts on top of the newspapers which were now resting on his lap and reached in for more clues. "Alright, what am I supposed to do with this?" he asked exasperated while holding up four brightly coloured wooden blocks dangling from a leather strap, complete with a small golden bell at the end. Sara bit her lower lip and raised an eyebrow, receiving a chuckle from Nick. He sighed and continued through the box. With both hands he picked out the next two items: a bag of dried fruit and a multicoloured, flexible bar with white clips at either end.

"I promise these are going to make sense once you see the next thing."

"I hope so," he was amused by the proud expression she had adopted. He reached into the white box and pulled out the final clue: a book entitled Conures: A Complete Pet Owner's Guide. He looked at the picture of the beautiful parrot on the cover and felt his face break in half with a smile as he finally understood the rest of the presents. He looked up at her silently, his eyes sparkling but he didn't know what to say.

"There's one more piece of the present but I don't think animal rights would have approved of me adding it to the box…" she smiled slyly.

"Y-you… got me a bird?" his words were laced with excitement. She nodded with satisfaction at his obvious enthusiasm. He lunged towards her and wrapped his arms firmly around her in a giant hug, the gifts on his lap spilling onto the floor at their feet. They lingered in that pose for at least two minutes, silently rocking, enjoying the contact. "I don't know what to say…" he finally pulled back revealing a grin that would give the Cheshire cat a run for his money. They looked at each other for a moment and then suddenly Nick's smile vanished, "Oh no! Sara, it must have cost a fortune!"

"Don't worry about tha--" she started, waving her hands in a gesture of nonsense.

"No. I've looked into buying a parrot before. This is way too much." Nick interrupted her gallantly. "I'm going to pay you back," he decided.

"That's really sweet Nick, but completely unnecessary," he started to sputter a response but she clasped a firm hand over his mouth, "I got a _really_ good deal on her. She used to belong to a friend of mine who's moving and can't take her along… she was going to try and sell her to a breeder but…" she trailed off noticing that Nick's smile had returned. "So," she stood up in front of him and held out her hand, "Want to meet her?"

"Of course!" he grabbed her hand and pushed himself up off of the couch. They laced their fingers and Sara led him towards her bedroom, "Oh! I get it: 'the bedroom would be best'…" he chuckled appreciatively as a blush crept over Sara's face. She was going to retort but they had just entered her room and judging by the delight on Nick's face, the remark would have fallen upon deaf ears anyway. He froze for a moment, staring at the beautiful caged parrot but Sara tugged his arm and led him up to the cage.

"Nick meet Canace," she said quietly as she sided up to him and wrapped herself around his arm as he studied the bird carefully. It was sitting on a perch right beside the bars so Nick reached out a hesitant hand and cautiously stroked the parrot's wing with the back of his index finger.

"Hello darlin'," he drawled affectionately.

"Hello cowboy," Canace squawked in response. Nick pulled his hand back and looked at Sara in surprise before cracking up with laughter, which was also mimicked by the parrot.

Sara beamed proudly, "I had my friend teach it some custom phrases. She'll say that whenever you call her darlin'." He carefully untangled her from his arm and wrapped them around her in another hug, this one much gentler.

"This is the best present I've ever had," he murmured softly into her hair. She pulled back after a moment and stepped towards the cage door.

"Step up," Sara commanded as she stuck her hand in front of the parrot. Once the bird had complied, Sara handed it her to Nick. He accepted happily and quickly resumed the petting gesture that he had started before. "She's a Golden-capped Conure," Sara decided that now was as good a time as any to start her running commentary, "The guide book in the other room will tell you all the most important things, but I'm supposed to let you know some of them just in case you put off reading it…" A smile stole across her face as she watched Nick contently focus on his new pet, "First off, do **not** feed her any chocolate or avocado. They will kill her. Second, she will still be able to fly even though her wings are clipped, so be careful when she's out of her cage. She's already had all of her shots and everything… umm, let's see…"

"How old is she?" Nick didn't remove his eyes from the parrot.

"Oh yeah, she's about ten, so you don't have to worry about training her. She already knows not to bite or squeal… she obviously knows how to talk. She says basic things: 'uh-oh', 'peek-a-boo', 'food', 'play time'…" Sara tried to remember the other phrases, "There are a few more I think, but I can't remember. It'll be a fun surprise when she says it. She laughs, as you've heard, and she also whistles provocatively." To demonstrate Sara whistled and Canace mimicked it right back to Nick's great amusement. He shifted his gaze from the bird to her cage.

"How am I supposed to get her to my place? Will the cage fit in the Tahoe?" he asked while mentally calculating the room in his vehicle.

"Well don't worry about that right now. I mean, you don't even know if you're going to Texas yet. So you can leave her here, at least for tonight, and then if you decide to go home for Christmas I'll keep her here until you come back." Nick stepped forward and placed Canace lovingly back into her cage and locked the door.

"Thank you," he said genuinely turning towards her and giving her a tender kiss on the cheek. Then he amicably tossed an arm around her shoulders and started to steer her out of her room and back towards her living room. "Now it's time for yours… though I feel kind of foolish after such an amazing gift. Maybe I should have gone first," he joked, trying to calm his own nerves. In all honesty, getting his present worked out perfectly because if the present that he got for her isn't as well received as he hopes, then he doesn't plan on sticking around; hence the uncertainty of the trip to Texas, he's just waiting for her reaction before deciding whether to flee the state.


	18. The moment of truth

They resumed their initial positions on the couch. Nick first picked up the items that had spilled onto the floor in his excitement and returned them to the box that she had given him. Then he reached over and picked up the long flat present that he had brought for her. He hesitated slightly before handing it over to her with a nervous smile. _'This is it…' _he mentally prepared himself, _'The moment of truth.'_ Nick reached forwards and took a quick drink of the forgotten egg-nog on the table in front of him, hoping to sooth the sudden dryness his throat had acquired. After returning the glass to its starting spot, he clasped his hands together in his lap to prevent her from seeing them tremble anxiously and took a deep breath. He focused his sole attention on his beautiful best friend so that he could watch her face intently for any reaction. With her gift nestled nicely on her lap Sara removed the wrapping agonizingly slow and tossed it aside. She lifted the lid off of the box that her present was set inside and gasped at the contents.

"Wow," she breathed, turning towards Nick. "Did you make this?" Nick nodded his head cautiously and let out his breath slowly: _'So far so good.'_ A smile flitted across her face and she switched her attention back to her gift for a closer examination. Across the bottom of the box Nick had assembled a custom made 1,000 piece puzzle. The foreground of the puzzle was one of Nick's favourite pictures of Sara. Her body was angled slightly away from the camera, her arms folded across her chest in a no-nonsense manner, but her face was staring straight at the viewer. She had a smug air about her; one eyebrow was quirked questioningly and she had a half smirk tugging at her mouth. The classic 'Sidle' look. Behind her image was a large red heart and the rest of the puzzle had a light blue background. Scattered throughout the heart and the background of the puzzle were pictures of things that Nick felt made Sara who she was. As Sara took in the appearance of the puzzle, two very noticeable spots jumped out at her. There was a place in the left hump of the heart that didn't have any pieces and an identical spot in the blue background on the right side of the puzzle. She looked up at Nick questioningly and gestured towards the blank spots, "What happened to these pieces?"

Nick swallowed and cleared his throat timidly, "Don't worry I brought them too. Umm, let me explain this first." He took another deep breath. He had practiced his speech a thousand times before, but he had never been able to perfect it. He prayed that the words would just come to him naturally. "This is, uh, a puzzle," he began foolishly, "that, ahh, well it's you." He watched her eyebrows furrow with confusion. "I tried to make a picture that would accurately display what makes you so amazing. I put in everything that I could think of that you like and has contributed to the person that you are…" her dumbfounded expression was replaced with a dreamy smile at his thoughtfulness. Noticing her warm reaction, he scooted closer to her on the couch. "I separated the stuff into two categories: things you like and things that you l-love," he stumbled slightly over the word but hurried forth. "The things that you love are here, in the heart," he reached forwards and pointed to the red shape behind her picture, "and all the things that you like are just around the edges here."

He started with the background and briefly explained the items he had scattered around there: music notes, the Harvard mascot wearing a mortarboard, some random chess pieces, a computer, the Golden Gate Bridge, a television displaying the title of her favourite forensics program, some fast food containers, and finally pictures of the night crew-- with two very noticeable exceptions. However, he didn't give her a chance to ask about the two MIAs as he plowed on to point out the items within the heart. The right half of the heart contained scientific items or things that related to forensics. There was a microscope, a double helix, the Scales of Justice, a large fingerprint, a drop of blood, a magnifying glass, a shoe print, a police scanner, and a pile of books. The other half had a 'Vegas' sign, obviously taken from the strip, at the top and then the blank spot. Sara sat beside him with a pleased smile across her face as she listened to him explain his choices and saw just how well he knew her.

"This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen, Nick," she swooned. He felt his stomach do a back-flip as he waited for her to voice the inevitable question. "So… where are you in here?" she looked at him shyly. He recognized his cue and got up and walked to his jacket, which had been discarded on a nearby chair, and pulled out two more items from the inside breast pocket.

"Well," he returned to the couch, sitting so that their legs were touching, "that's really up to you. I'm sure your keen eye--"

"Keen?" Sara interrupted giggling; he couldn't help but chuckle with her.

"Fine, your **sharp, investigative**, eye," he amended with a smirk, "has already picked out the two people missing…" He handed her a much smaller box without wrapping and waited for her to remove the lid and expose a picture of Grissom before handing her another identical box. She took off the lid in the same fashion as the last one and found a pile of puzzle pieces. He cleared his throat again to grab her attention, "Obviously, the first box is Grissom. And that one there is me…" he said softly.

"Why isn't Grissom in pieces?" she asked perplexed. The picture of Grissom was complete, but unlike the rest of the puzzle Grissom was one solid piece; the rest of the puzzle could be disassembled if she wanted.

"Because," Nick felt his courage run away and hide in the hall closet, to watch him make a fool of himself from a safe distance. "Because Grissom is whole. He's complete as is and fairly content with his life."

"And you…" she trailed off as she fingered one of the pieces from his box.

"I am anything but…" he paused until she met his gaze, "There are two blank spots in your puzzle: one spot for who you like… and one f-for who you l-love." His voice was thick with emotion as he continued, "There is only enough room for one person in your heart and both Grissom and I can fit in either spot. The only difference is that I don't come already assembled. I need you to complete me."

"Nick, I--" Sara tried to speak but Nick placed a finger on her lips to silence her.

"Please, Sara. Just let me get this out…" his eyes began to tear as he made his plea for her love, "I don't pretend that it won't be challenging trying to figure out exactly how to put the pieces together, but I promise you that I will fit in your heart just as well as Grissom. I need a little more work and a little more dedication, but I think I belong there. I will fit there… If it were up to me I would have just added myself to your heart, but you have to choose who belongs where. And I don't expect for you to make a decision right away. I'm will wait for as long as it takes for you to decide and I will be apart of the puzzle no matter where you think I fit best. If Grissom truly is the man that you want then I won't get in the way…" he trailed off as his voice became choked with emotion as his mind considered the fact that he may have to stand aside. _'Please,_' he prayed silently, _'Please, please, please pick me over Grissom.' _He glanced down at his hand for a minute trying to regain control.

She reached out a hand and caressed the side of his face before gently forcing him to meet her eyes once more. "I don't even have to think about it, Nick." Slowly, she reached up with her other hand and placed one on either side of his face. She pulled his face down and she planted a soft kiss on his forehead and then swooped down lower to capture his lips. As she met his moist mouth she was overcome with an unusual sensation grow in the pit of her stomach. She felt like she was in a car speeding along a winding, hilly country road and she had just floored it over a particularly steep drop. Her stomach was left hovering a few feet above her as she quickly descended and sped forward. It was a warm, tingling sensation that started in the pit of her stomach but seemed to steam outwards through her limbs and to her toes and fingertips. As she felt him returning her affection and slid a hand up to caress her forearm she was very tempted to climb on top of him to deepen the kiss. However, she decided that before that happened she should make sure she stated her choice without any confusion. She pulled away with a slight whimper and rested her forehead against his and waited for him to open his eyes.

Nick had been caught off guard. When she had pulled him down to kiss his forehead he was sure that she was going to say that she still loved their boss, and so when she had suddenly dipped to his lips it took him a few seconds to catch on and respond. He purposely kept his eyes closed for a minute after she had pulled away, trying to recall and store every sensation that he had felt from their first kiss. As soon as they had made contact Nick felt energy shoot through his body. In his initial state of shock, it started as an oddly pleasant stinging from his mouth which he could only liken to touching one's tongue to the tip of a battery. However, it soon grew and passion shot through him like electricity and he could swear that at some point it had even stopped his heart. Far sooner than he would have liked she broke the contact and rested against him head. He realized that she was waiting for him. His eyes flickered open and met hers, both pairs glazed over with passion.

Sara opened her mouth to speak but discovered she must have lost her voice box along with her stomach at the top of that hill. Instead she just moved forward for another quick peck and then pulled away and took Grissom out of his box and placed him firmly with the rest of the night shift in the background. Nick's face exploded into a delighted grin and he captured her lips into another kiss. Carefully she put the three boxes from her lap onto the coffee table in front of her without breaking contact with Nick. Once the obstacles were out of her way she climbed on top of him, straddling his lap. His tongue ran along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to let him explore. Nick slid his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against his body while Sara kept one hand stroking the side of his face and the other wrapped around to the back of his head and playing with his short hair.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that, exchanging soft, passionate, exploratory kisses but it didn't matter, they didn't have anything else on the agenda tonight anyway. Both knew that tonight they wouldn't go any further, after all they were only new to this and neither wanted to take on too much too quickly. So, they were both more than content to just sit on her couch making out. When they finally separated Sara snuggled up against his chest, her head lying in the crook of his neck and her arms folded under her body. Nick had one arm wrapped protectively around her waist and the other rubbing up and down on her back slowly. "I think this is the best night I've ever had," she sighed contently.

"And it only gets better from here," Nick promised in a low soothing voice. He felt his eyelids begin to droop and he gave a large yawn. "Mmmm," he moaned squeezing her tighter for a moment and then relaxing, "I think I'm going to fall asleep."

"Me too," she murmured enjoying the peaceful ovals that his hand was making on her back.

"I should get going," he whispered as he planted a kiss against her hair.

"No, you don't have to. You can crash here tonight," she said kissing his neck lightly, "You don't even have to sleep on the couch this time." Nick and Sara had been sleeping over at each others houses for a couple of years, it wasn't often but it was known to happen occasionally if they had been hanging out late and just didn't feel like taking the trip home. Normally when Nick slept over he took the fold out couch. "But just sleeping…" she made sure he understood.

"I know," he smiled sleepily. "Are you ready to go now?"

"Mmmm," she confirmed with a sigh. She slowly pushed herself out of Nick's tight embrace, pausing to kiss him softly once more before rolling out of his lap. Nick stood up slowly and stretched tiredly. After a minute he turned and extended his hand to help her up off of the couch, which she happily accepted. They entwined their hands and started to stumble towards the bedroom lazily when Sara suddenly remembered something and tugged his hand to stop him. "I didn't put you together." She started to pull him back to the couch.

"I can be in pieces for one night longer," his voice pleaded for sleep.

"Nope, come on. We're making you complete right now," she smiled playfully and Nick couldn't possibly refuse her request.

"I should have had an already assembled Nick ready," he whined a few minutes later as they poured over the puzzle trying to piece him together properly. "I didn't know it'd be this hard," he turned the piece he was holding in every which direction trying to make it become part of his clothes.

"It would have contradicted your wonderful monologue," she teased. His face turned red and he smiled sheepishly. "No, don't be embarrassed. It was the single most romantic moment of my life," she confided. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before returning to the task at hand.

"Good," Nick beamed but couldn't get the blush to fade. He snaked his arm around her waist earning a proud display of her teeth in return. Soon there was only piece left until the puzzle was complete.

"Okay, put it in," Sara instructed leaning against Nick smiling.

"I don't have it," he replied with a knowing smile. Sara looked in the box that had held all the pieces but couldn't see the last one: the piece that belonged in the middle of his chest. She set the box down and glanced uneasily at him fearing she had lost it when she caught sight of his expression.

"Where is it?" Sara demanded laughing.

"You have it," he replied smugly.

"I do not. What have you done with it?" she climbed back onto his lap and gave him her best pout hoping to end this battle quickly.

"What piece is missing?"

"You're shirt."

"More specifically."

"You're chest?"

"Warmer…"

"You're heart," she proclaimed understanding.

"You have it," he repeated gazing lovingly at her. "You've always had it. Along with my friendship."

"Oh, Nicky," she purred, "That's so sweet." She started leaning in to steal another kiss, an action he freely mirrored. Just before their lips met she gasped and giggled and then hopped off of him and ran to the kitchen.

"You're even quicker than I thought," he called after her laughing proudly. She bounded triumphantly back into the room mere seconds later waving the piece in the air.

"You're sneaky, I'll give you that." She couldn't have dimmed her smile if she wanted to. He had placed the last piece in the yellow 'friendship' rose he had given her at the start of the evening. "You have got to be the most romantic man in the world!" she exclaimed as she bent over and placed the last piece in the puzzle and stood back to admire it.

"And you deserve no less," he replied as he stood up behind her and hugged her from behind, planting a few kisses along her neck and shoulder. She placed her hands on top of his arms around her waist.

"Okay, we can go to bed now," she stepped out of his embrace and headed towards the front door to lock it for the night while he made his way to her room. Sara stopped and turned off all the lights as she followed slowly behind him, and when she reached her room he was standing beside Canace's cage waggling a finger affectionately at his new pet. "You are too cute for words," she smiled as she leaned against the door frame and watched the interaction. He turned around with a pleased grin on his face and sauntered over to sit on her bed.

"So I've decided not to go to Texas this year," he began to remove his tie and tossed it at the foot of the bed and started to work on his shirt buttons.

"Oh really?" she replied amused as she moved to her dresser in search of her pajamas. "Got a better offer?"

"I certainly hope so," he removed his shirt exposing the white wife-beater and perfectly sculptured body beneath it. "Will you spend Christmas with me?"

Sara walked towards him with her night attire in hand, "I would love to." She gave him a kiss before walking past him and into her bathroom to get ready for bed. While she was gone he stripped to his boxers and folded his discarded items to place on top of her dresser. He turned off the lights and returned to the bed. As he climbed under the covers he reflected happily on the events of the day. It truly was the best day of his life. He stretched his arms out and tucked them behind his head, sighing noisily.

When Sara re-entered the room, her make-up was gone and she wore a black tank top, blue pajama pants, and her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Nick had never seen her look more beautiful than she did when she was getting into bed beside him. She crawled over towards him and snuggled up to his side, resting her head on his shoulder and her arm around his wait. He left one arm behind his head but moved the other to pull the covers up higher to keep her warm and then wrapped his arm around her body.

"So, just to clarify… was that a date?" she asked into the dark.

"I vote yes," he replied laughing and gave her side a quick tickle. She lifted her head of his chest and they exchanged another lingering kiss before she settled herself back against him. "Good night darlin'."

"Hello Cowboy!" squawked Canace and the couple laughed sleepily.

"Good night, Nicky." she whispered giving his middle a squeeze.

"Yes it was," he spoke through a yawn. They both remained silent until sleep claimed them, each enjoying the simple sensation of lying tangled together and thinking about how nothing and yet everything had changed over the course of a week. Their relationship hadn't been altered except in title. Their feelings hadn't really changed, they had just been recognized. Yet everything felt distinctly different. And definitely better. The last conscious thought that floated through Nick's mind that night was a simple one: _'Christmas rocks…'_

THE END!!!


End file.
